It Happened in the Desert
by CattyJen
Summary: The Suna Luxury Resort, "when you're with friends, the days aren't so hot and the night's aren't so cold" but Sakura would soon find out that there were a couple things they forgot to mention in the brochure. AU GaaSaku.
1. Chapter 1

**Gosh, I should be working on my other stories. Anyways, I've caught some sort of flu virus so I've been in bed for the past three days. With nothing to do and no place to go, I started fooling around with a story idea. The following chapter was born. Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
**

* * *

Prologue

Everyone knew Beach Week was the best part of senior year. It was that special week in the beginning of the month of June, when high school seniors collectively rented beach condos and lived it up, parent free, on the shoreline. Typical Beach Week activities included but were not limited to, binge drinking, sun bathing, pot smoking, wild partying, and of course making out with people you normally wouldn't even talk to in school. It was the last 'hurrah' before friends were shipped off to their prospective jobs or colleges.

They should have never let Naruto Uzumaki be in charge of procuring the house.

"But Sakura," he had said, "everyone goes to the beach. We can't be unoriginal like that! Besides Iruka's friend, the travel agent, got us mind-blowing deals… how can we go to the beach when we've got someplace way cooler to go?"

Round trip airfare and a week at a four star for only three hundred dollars a person. She had to admit, it _was_ a pretty good deal…

"This is one of those things we won't have time to do when we enter the real world, and it's something you're going to regret missing if you never go. People come from all over the world just to put their feet on the ground, to smell the air, and to snap photos. We're lucky! We get to spend an entire week absorbing the awesomeness."

Even after that charming little speech, Sakura was not swayed. She had really been looking forward to finally unwinding after such a stressful year with a mojito in one hand, and a beach ball in the other. She and Ino had already bought matching bikinis. Cute boys from all over the state were going to be gathered (and shirtless) in one convenient location. There was going to be a bonfire! They were going to barbeque!

But none of that mattered. It was too late in the season to find a beach house that would fit all of her friends and then there was the issue of Naruto already having already spent all their money on the tickets and rooms. It was going to be his way, or there would be no vacation at all.

So that was how Sakura found herself stepping into _The_ _Suna Luxury Resort and Spa_, somewhere along the border between California and Nevada, in the Mojave desert.

They had had to switch planes twice and Sakura was convinced that that last airplane had been someone's idea of a bad joke. She was pretty sure it had been a flying bus with wings held together by chewing gum and duct tape. She hadn't eaten in at least twenty-four hours out of the fear of being airsick. There was nothing more embarrassing than throwing up in front of your friends.

She was thankful that she hadn't sweat through her clothes either. It had to be at least one hundred degrees outside. Sakura had read somewhere that Death Valley was among the hottest places on the planet. She and her group were positively sweltering and welcomed the cool air in the resort lobby. Sakura had to say she was a little impressed.

The floor of the lobby was made out of cold grey stones and the walls were a magnificent red ochre clay design. She had been expecting dumpy tweed furniture so she was pleasantly surprised by the dark steel colored suede couches and clear glass tables. Both modern and native artwork hung on the red walls of the resort lobby giving her the impression that she had just walked into an exclusive museum or gallery. Giant floppy green leaves hung midway down the tall ceilings, effectively shading the room from the sun's harsh rays shining down from the skylight.

"At night the leaves pull back so you can see the stars." Said a distinctly male voice next to her.

Sakura turned and was met with a tall brown haired man who looked to be somewhere in his late teens to early twenties. The man smiled at her and since he seemed like a nice enough guy (he was reasonably attractive too) she smiled back. Normally she would have just walked away if a stranger had talked to her, but this was her vacation in a whole other state, on another coast, on practically a whole other planet, if ever she had a chance to break out and be someone new, now was it. "I'm actually awed by this room." She said. "I wasn't expecting this place to be this beautiful."

She wasn't just talking about the resort either; the landscape just about took her breath away. It was the sublime. Everything was so _flat_. The roads, the ground, the sky, it was flat, Sakura could see for miles in every direction. But if she looked to the north off in the distance she could see the outline of the great violet Sierra Nevada Mountains. The cloudless blue sky contrasted greatly with the rocky yellow and orange terrain. There was very little foliage, at least of the traditional variety, aside from the occasional pathetic green shrub.

"When we renovated six years we were faced with the challenge of matching the splendor of the landscape without being too over the top or fake looking. It took years of work and planning to make this place what it is today."

"So you work here?" she was beginning to appreciate her surroundings more and more with each passing second. How did they manage to keep the sand and dust out? The hotel looked so clean. They must have one serious cleaning crew.

"Sort of. My father's the owner of the resort. I designed and built a lot of the hotel fixtures, including the ceiling leafs. I wasn't really paid or anything," he smiled, "but this job does have some perks."

"So you actually live her? In the desert?" Sakura couldn't believe that people could actually live their lives in the giant sandy oven.

"We've got another house in Santa Cruz, that's where we spend most of our year, and that was where I went to high school. My father likes to send us out here to keep an eye on things and help out."

"Us?"

"My older sister and younger brother are here too. They're probably around your age, give or take. My sister, Temari, will be glad that there is a big group of teenagers here to mess around with." He gestured to her friends who were all busy at the check in desk. "I'll admit though, we don't usually see your type. We get mostly families or foreigners. You guys are our first party of un chaperoned kids in a while."

Sakura coughed. "Well actually, we're all high school graduates, not kids." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Sakura Haruno." She said.

The man took her hand. "I'm Kankuro Sabaku, nice to meet you."

"We're here on a graduates' vacation of sorts. There are nine of us. We all grew up together in Konoha."

"Oh really." He said casually. "So the blond and the black haired girl with the uh…" Kankuro cleared his throat and nodded in the direction of Sakura's two friends, Ino and Hinata. "They're both eighteen?"

"Yeah," Sakura gave him a doubting look, "and you're like, what, thirty five?" She teased.

"I'm only twenty!"

Sakura laughed. "I'm just kidding. But may I warn you? I would probably stay away from the dark haired girl if I were you, she's got a boyfriend." Hinata and Naruto had something really special going on. If this Kankuro Sabaku character tried anything to break their relationship Sakura would have to cut him. A girl had to know when to stop being nice.

Kankuro made a face. "The blond though, do you think I have a chance with her?" he asked. "She's the kind of hot that's out of my league."

Actually Ino would probably approve of Kankuro, because he was older and had an actual job. He was a lot better than most of her conquests. Not to mention, Ino was a big advocate for free love. But Sakura felt a little bad about setting her friend up without her permission. She had to do something to make it up to her. "You should give her a room upgrade. It'll, you know, show her that you're a good guy _and_ that you've got power. Ino really goes for that kind of thing."

"Ino you say? The hotel is pretty empty this week, I'm sure I can come up with a reason to get her a suite." For a moment he looked unsure. "Just make sure she doesn't trash it."

Sakura had to wonder why he wasn't putting the moves on Sakura herself. Wasn't she in his league? Its not like Sakura had never had a boyfriend before. She was fairly confident that she wasn't unattractive, but for some reason she never seemed to get the attention Ino and Hinata got. They couldn't have been that much prettier than she was. Sakura didn't understand it.

She watched Kankuro stride over to the reception desk and whisper something to the uniformed man working it.

If Sakura and Ino really got a suite, then that meant their room would be the center of the party. Sakura had never really had the time in high school to go to dances and parties. When she wasn't at home doing schoolwork, she was at the hospital volunteering as a candy striper or helping out at Ino's mom's nursery. After all of that she was just too tired to do anything else but sleep.

Sakura was known for being somewhat bookish and a little bit of a goody-goody. She was never bothered by this reputation, and up until now she had even embraced her position as the moral authority over her friends. Now Sakura wasn't the smartest girl in the school, nor was she the prettiest or the most popular, but that didn't matter. She was scrupulously kind to everyone she met and stayed prim and proper in even the most chaotic of situations. And she liked being good being good made her happy. She was looking forward to starting college and continuing her squeaky-clean life style, but that didn't mean she didn't want to have a little fun before she left. Sakura wanted to see how the other side lived. Sakura wanted to party.

She had all sorts of visions about what this week was going to entail. Part of her was curious as to what sort of attractions and sight seeing opportunities there were in the area. Going to any of those places however would mean leaving the controlled temperatures of the hotel. Sakura knew that Ino and Hinata would probably want to spend their days taking advantage of the hotel's spa while the boys would be more interested in the hotel swimming pool. As far as the nights were concerned, Sakura knew there was a liquor store in the town nearby and that Sasuke Uchiha had his brother's old drivers license.

Sakura looked down at her feet where her luggage rested. Her suitcase was jam packed with warm weather clothing. Summer was actually her least favorite season; her skin was so fair she almost always burned. It was only a matter of time before her skin was the same shade a pretty pink as her hair. So because she didn't want to be a wrinkled mess at age thirty, Sakura was vowing to spend as little time in the sun as possible.

"Need any help carrying your stuff?" Ino asked, noticing Sakura straying behind the rest of the group. "My new friend over there took mine upstairs already." She pointed to Kankuro. "He said there was a problem with our reservation so we're getting a better room than what we had booked."

"Is that so?" Sakura faked her surprise. "How lucky for us."

"Yeah… I think he might be into me." Ino looked thoughtful. "Yeah… I think he'd make a good summer fling."

"And to think you've only been here ten minutes! You're going to master this vacation Ino, I can really feel it. We're going to have ridiculous fun this summer."

"I know." The blond girl said, smiling slyly. "On the plane ride here I couldn't stop thinking about all the crazy things we're going to do. This is my chance to introduce you to _fun_."

"I know what fun is!" Sakura said, a little miffed that her friend was implying other wise.

"No you don't." her smile widened. "But you will…"

* * *

Sunday.

"I really don't think life can get much better than this." Ino's voice was a bit muffled because she was lying on her stomach and speaking into her towel.

"I'm actually a bit bored." Sakura sat hugging her knees to her chest under the shade of the umbrella. She was careful not to let even the tip of her toes outside of the dark shadow of the umbrella. Her clothes, her hair, her skin, everything was covered in sweat. She was positively roasting under the desert sun. "Are you sure we can't go swimming with everyone else? Even Hinata is in the pool."

"Hinata has a boyfriend, she has nothing to gain by getting a nice tan or attracting other men. So no, stay out of the pool. I didn't spend twenty whole minutes doing your make up for you to let it all smear off in the water. So just sit still, look pretty, and let the boys flock to us like bees to honey."

"All the boys here are with their families. You can't honestly think they're just going to come over here and start hitting on us." She shrank even further into the shadows. She didn't like the idea of ruining someone's family vacation.

"The minute mommy and daddy are looking in the other direction they will, I'm sure of it. And you're forgetting those guys over there," she pointed off on the other side of the pool, "the ones here on their company trip. They're certainly interested. That guy in the glasses has been staring at my ass for the past fifteen minutes."

"Ino! Those are grown men! They probably have wives at home waiting for them. That's disgusting." Sakura chastised. "I don't want to be a home wrecker."

"Hey, what happens in the desert _stays_ in the desert."

"Is that a fact?"

"Look," Ino sat up to adjust the straps of her string bikini, "you said it yourself that you wanted to loosen your hair for a week. If you really want to have a good time, you need to let go of this 'nice girl' persona. It's going to get in the way of your game. Bad girls have more fun."

"So bad girls can't be nice?" Either way, Sakura didn't like the idea of ruining a family or a family vacation. She wanted to have fun, but not at the expense of others.

"I'm not going to even answer that question. It's not about good or bad, or mean or nice, it's about doing what you want and letting go of your inhibitions."

Sakura kind of liked her inhibitions where they were. "I don't know, Ino. I guess we'll just have to see what works." She stood up. "I'm going over to the gang to make sure they've got enough sun screen on and ask if they want me to order them something to eat."

"Whatever." Ino said, burrowing back down into her towel. "Just stay out of my sunlight.

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes and set off to the poolside where her friends were busy talking and splashing each other with the water. They all looked so happy together, Sakura couldn't figure out how anyone would prefer to lay lifeless under the harsh sun when they could be swimming and having fun. It sounded so perfect it even rhymed!

"Hey Sakura, finally decided to join us?" Naruto said. He was sitting at the edge of the pool with his arm around his girlfriend Hinata. "It's one hundred and five degrees outside. I don't understand how you can just sit over there and roast."

"It's not that bad." She said with a reassuring smile. "I just came by to see if you guys needed anything and to remind you to re-apply sunscreen. The water magnifies the suns rays and I don't want you to get burned."

"Oh we're good right now." Said Naruto. "We'll probably be coming in soon though, everyone wants to get a shower in before dinner."

"We thought we might eat in the restaurant tonight." Hinata explained.

"That sounds good to me." Sakura said. She was glad that they would soon be moving inside. There was only so much of this desert sun and heat she could take, even by the poolside. "And by the way Hinata, I love your swim suit!" The dark haired girl was wearing a cute lavender one piece that really brought out her eyes. Sakura really respected Hinata's understated sense of fashion.

"Thanks, it's new." She said. Naruto kissed her cheek and she giggled. "Naruto and I did our swim suit shopping together this year."

"That's so sweet." Sakura said with a smile. It was really nice that Naruto and Hinata were so happy together. She wished that all of her friends could find such perfect partners. "Well I guess I'll go tell Ino what the plan is so she can have her shower before me. It is her room after all."

"We'll come pick you up before we hit the restaurant."

"Ok." Sakura waved goodbye. "See you around later then."

Dinner in the restaurant sounded like a good idea. Sakura recalled reading in health class that it was a good idea to eat before consuming alcohol to keep oneself from becoming drunk. She wanted to make sure all of her friends had their stomach lined before they started the party of their lives. She was going to have to find a way to balance taking care of all of her friends and having her own fun.

Sakura was busying trying to remember everything else she had learned about alcohol and drugs from that class and she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking. All she really saw before she went crashing into the pool was a tall stack of white towels and the red hair of the boy who she was taking down with her.

She hit the water hard, the smack on her skin resonated throughout her body. Sakura was in shock for a moment before she got a hold of herself and swam to the surface. All of her friends, even Ino, had gathered at the edge of where she had fallen in. "Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto called out to his pink haired friend who was too busying paddling over to the ladder to notice the boy who had fallen in with her.

"No worries, I'm fine." Sakura coughed up a bit of the water she had swallowed. "Just a little embarrassed." Naruto offered her his hand and he pulled her out of the water.

It was a good thing she had had her bathing suit on. She had a feeling her eye make up had run down her cheeks but it was kind of worth it. Finally she had some relief from the hot sun. She was feeling delightfully refreshed. She really should have jumped into the pool sooner.

"You've got to be more careful." Naruto said, once he had her up on dry land. Ino stepped in and wrapped a towel around her. "You could have really hurt yourself or…" he turned and looked in the direction of the pool at where the pool boy Sakura has practically drowned was climbing out of the water himself.

Holy shit did he look angry.

"I am _so_ sorry!' Sakura gushed. She wiggled out of Ino's grasp and went to help the poor pool boy. She knelt down at the pool's edge. "Really, I'm really, really, sorry."

Drops of water dripped from his red hair onto the cement floor. He wiped his wet brow and snarled at her. "Fuck off, you dumb bitch." He spat at her, the words hitting her like a sharp slap in the face

Sakura felt a cloud pass over the sun. Funny, just a minute ago she could have sworn that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. _It was just an accident,_ she reasoned. He had to known it was just an accident; she didn't do it on purpose.

She looked up at him and began to apologize again. "I'm a complete klutz, I should have watched where I was going. I'm so sorry. It was an accident and I'm sorry. Please let me know if there is something I can do to make it up to you."

It was as if he hadn't heard her at all. He completely ignored her kneeling form and the help she was offering him. Instead, he brushed past her and her friends, picked up the fallen towels and stalked off in the direction of the pool house, leaving a confused and embarrassed Sakura in his wake.

There was really no reason for him to have been so rude to her. She had said she was sorry, and she was trying to help him. She hoped that by pushing him into the pool she hadn't gotten him into any trouble.

But judging by the look on his face when he had left, she had gotten off easy with a simple 'fuck you'. It was as if Sakura had committed a much graver crime than merely ruining his day. His aura had been murderous. She was shaken by the experience.

"What the hell is that kid's problem?" Said Ino as she rushed to Sakura's side.

"I don't know…I said I was sorry." Sakura looked like she was about to break out in tears. "Do you think I should find him and apologize again?"

"That's definitely a _no_." The blond girl grabbed Sakura's slippery wet arm and pulled to her feet. "Lets just go back to our room and get ready for dinner. Don't give any more thought to the angry guy. He's a _pool boy_ for god's sake, it's no wonder he is pissed at the world."

"I still feel pretty bad about it…" She herself wouldn't have been such a basket of sunshine if someone had crashed into her and knocked her into the pool. It was understandable that he was angry. She just didn't see why he would have been _that _angry.

"Either way, there is nothing you can do about it now. Now come on," Ino dragged Sakura back toward the hotel. "Lets get out of here, our vacation has only just begun."

* * *

Dinner had been delicious, Sakura had to use all her will power not to gorge herself. They boys on the other hand, ate as much as a heard or elephants. She had never seen food disappear so fast. She thought her eyes had been playing tricks on her.

Now everyone was off doing their own thing for a couple of hours until it was time to meet in Ino's room for a little graduation celebration.

"So I invited those four brothers from down the hall, the ones that kind of Zac Effron's look-alikes. And I also talked all of the teenagers from that family reunion group, there is like ten of them, into coming up." Ino said. "Kiba invited those twin girls from the first floor and the other girls they had with them. Oh, and Kankuro, that guy who works here, said he and his sister would stop by. So that should be like twenty-ish people all together."

"Do you really think there is enough room in here for thirty people?" Sakura looked doubtful. "I mean it's a fair sized room…it's just going to be packed in here."

Ino rolled her eyes. "That's the point, Sakura. Parties are supposed to be crowded, that's how you know it's a good party. That's how you meet people."

"So people are going to just stand around like sardines in a can?" The pink haired girl asked.

"Sasuke is out getting booze, Shino is brining music, Choji is brining snacks, I got us guests, and you got us a room. You mix those five things together and turn out the lights, and you've got a party. Believe me, this is going to be good."

"I guess…I mean, you know more about these things than I do." Sakura put her hand on her chin. I just hope Sasuke doesn't get arrested, trying to get alcohol."

"Do you now…?" ask an amused Ino. "Do you have any other hopes for Sasuke?"

Sakura blushed. "Its not like that… really it isn't. We _both_ agreed that it was better for us to just stay friends."

The fact of the matter was, Sasuke _kissed _her. It was graduation; their very last day of high school, and stupid Sasuke _kisses_ her and confesses his _feelings_ for her. _On the last day. _Was the universe against her or what?

For her entire four years of high school Sakura and Sasuke had been 'just friends.' Sakura however, didn't think she could be any more obvious about her feelings for him. _Everyone_ knew she was in love with him. Sakura never did anything about it because her friendship with him had been more important, and she wasn't willing to risk it. She had watched him date girl after girl and was forced to hear every little detail about his relationships and openly supporting him all the while hoping and praying that he would wake up and realize that she, Sakura Haruno, was really the girl for him. He never gave any indication that his feelings for her were any deeper than that of good friends.

On graduation day, after they had received their diplomas, Sasuke pulled her aside and kissed her. He confessed that he had had feeling for her for a long time and that he wanted to spend his summer with her.

Sakura could have killed him.

It turned out that she wasn't as in love with him as she thought she was. His kiss really didn't do much for her at all. She was angry because he was so stupid. She couldn't date him casually, but she also didn't want to have a serious relationship and then have to part ways at the end of the summer. They were going to schools on two totally separate sides of the country. She wouldn't be able to handle breaking up, and a long distance relationship would be much too stressful for her to handle during her first year of college.

If they even went down the romantic road that would be like literally kissing their perfect friendship goodbye. How could he put her in that position? She had wanted to be with him so badly for years, _for years_. And with one kiss, he completely ruined the dream. He was a dream ruiner. What did he really expect to accomplish with that confession? Slash, did he even realize he was four years late?

So for now, they were doing a pretty thorough job of avoiding each other. It was a little awkward now, but Sakura knew that this way better for their friendship in the long run. Things would go back to normal soon.

"Face it." Said Ino. "You broke Sasuke Uchiha's heart."

"I did not _break_ his heart." Sakura put her hands on her hips. "I may have bruised his ego a bit, but I guess that revenge for making me pine over him for so long. Not that I rejected him out of vengeance, because I didn't of course. It hurt me too."

"Well now is the perfect time to rethink your choice. It's like what I said earlier. _What happens in the desert _stays _in the desert._"

"I don't think so." She had thought about her decision for a long time, and it really was the right thing to do. "Besides, this is going to sound weird… I don't really feel the same way I used to about him. I mean I still like him of course; it's just that our kiss really didn't have any magic to it. It wasn't like I thought it would be."

"Welcome to the real world." Ino said ironically.

"_Tell me about it_."

"And just so you know, Sasuke is a guy. He's not going to hold himself back just because he says he has feelings for you. I saw him eying those twins earlier." Ino shook her head. "That means you have to meet some guys too."

"Like who? All the guys are going to be going after you… I can't compete when it comes to this kind of thing." Sakura tried not to sound as if it were something that bothered her. She didn't really mind that Ino was the more popular girl.

"_Trust me_." Ino said confidently. "When I'm done with you, the boys will be flocking. And if all else fails, just hook up with Kiba. Everyone's done it at least once. Even Hinata."

"Ok." Sakura laughed. "Lets not get carried away now."

"I'll have you know, Kiba works wonders with his tongue."

The pink haired girl shuddered. "I did _not_ need to know that."

"Whatever, Forehead," Ino said. "Just don't come crying to me when you die a virgin." She began stuffing her and Sakura's luggage into the closet. "Let's make sure no one walks out with our stuff. Is there some way we can lock this?"

"Push the bed against it." She suggested. "Or I can just stand by it and guard it."

"Out of the question. We'll move the bed."

Together the two girls arranged and rearranged their suite for optimal partying space. Ino filled up the ice box with mountains of cold cubes from the machine down in the lounge while Sakura took all the decorations off the wall and locked them in the closet with anything else that looked as if it might break if an out of control partygoer crashed into it. Sakura was thankful that there were hardwood floors and not carpets, because she had no idea how she might party proof that.

"Wanna practice kissing? I know it's been a while for you." Ino offered.

Sakura almost choked on the water she was sipping. "Uh, no thanks." She wiped her mouth. Kissing is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it."

"If you say so… just don't come crying to me when-"

"I get it, I get it." Sakura shouted, cutting her friend off. "I'm never having sex. I get it already, all right? You don't have to rub it in."

Ino looked scandalized. "That kind of attitude will get you no where. Now come sit over here and let me do your make up again. I can't have all of the Zac Effron brothers, now can I? And I would hate for any of them to be lonely."

"Fine." Sakura grumbled. "Just don't make me look like a clown."

* * *

Sakura had no idea alcohol would be so disgusting. It tasted _awful_. Vodka, rum, beer, whiskey, _all of it_, the minute a drop of it hit her tongue she wanted to gag. It was disgusting! How on earth did people drink the stuff? How did people drink enough of it to get drunk when just a mouthful made Sakura's eyes water and she felt like she was going to die.

"This is the expensive stuff." Sasuke explained to her. He shook the long narrow bottle in her face. "Stolichnaya Elit Vodka." He read the label.

Sakura wondered if Sasuke really came all the way over here to inform her on the prices of vodka in the global market. They had had a pretty good run avoiding each other so she was actually relieved when she saw he was making his way over to talk to her.

Kankuro informed Ino upon his arrival that the walls were heavily insulated due to the temperature changes and they were virtually sound proof. With the assurance that there would be noise complaints from downstairs or up the hall, Shino _blasted_ the music and the party got thumping. Sakura could feel the beat of the bass matching that of her heart and the techno trance sounds made her head spin and her limbs tingle.

All of the lamps were turned off but light still illuminated from the fixtures outside and the night sky. Sakura could clearly see the outline of the handsome boy standing before her but she could barely hear him over the sounds of the party.

"That's Russian sounding. Why'd you get such an expensive bottle?" She asked. "This is a room party not a cocktail party."

He smirked at her. "Because I'm filthy rich." He opened the bottle and poured some of the clear liquid inside into a cup of cranberry juice. Sasuke swished the contents around in the glass before throwing his head back and downing the entire drink in one gulp. When his head came back down Sakura could see that his cheeks were delightfully pink and his eyes were glassy. "Are you sure I can't interest you in a shot? It'll loosen you up a little."

Sakura didn't think she needed to loosen up and she knew if she tried using that fancy alcohol loosen up, she would end up spilling the contents of her stomach onto the floor. She didn't think that would be very fun or attractive. She shook her head. "I'm ok for now."

Sasuke wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist and gave it a small tug. "Lets dance then." He looked at her with dark seductive eyes and said in a low voice,  
"I want to hold you for a while."

Sakura's jaw dropped. _Excuse me?_ Did he really just say that to her? Well hello, Casanova! When did she stop being a friend to him and start being a random girl at a party? She had heard him use that line on like six other girls. He was going to have to do better because Sakura was certainly not going to buy into any of that crap. Besides, didn't they have agreement? 'Just friends' is not the same thing as friends with benefits. Sakura Haruno was nice but she wasn't _that_ nice.

"Smooth moves, Uchiha." Sakura wriggled away from his grasp . "But I don't think that's such a good idea."

His face returned to normal and he shrugged. "You're loss. Later then."

And before Sakura even found time to react she was already watching Sasuke's back retreating into the crowd.

She was kind of hoping he would put up a little more of a fight. But maybe she was no different then any of his previous girls. She knew exactly how he operated. Sasuke used his pretty face and kind words to dupe girls into believing he loved them. How was Sakura supposed to know whether or not she was different to him?

It didn't matter. Her mind was already made up. She and Sasuke were just not happening. There was nothing more to say.

Moments later after Sasuke had left, Ino stumbled over with a crowd full of men trailing after her. The entire party looked pretty drunk. Sakura hoped Ino wasn't letting these boys take advantage of her.

"Sakura!" Ino crashed into the girl and gave her a tight squeeze. "Sakura, I can feel your padded bra!" Ino giggled.

Thanks Ino. Sakura hoped that the music was loud enough to hide her friend's mortifying outburst. Sakura cheeks felt hot. Why did Ino have to be such a chatty drunk?

"Men, this is Sakura." Ino motioned to her friend. "And Sakura, these are my men."

Men? That sounded like she was introducing her army. "Uh, hi men." Sakura gave them a weak wave. How on earth did Ino already have a posse, and how on earth was she already drunk? They hadn't been partying for that long.

"Hey I know you!" One of the guys said. He looked like Zac Effron on steroids. He opened his mouth and sprayed booze words all over Sakura. "You're that girl who fell into the pool today!"

"Yeah, that was me." Sakura wondered when the humiliation was going to end.

You know, close up you're not as hot as I thought you'd be."

"Oh, um, I'm sorry." The pink haired girl said, feeling very awkward. Was this guy trying to insult her or something?

"Nah, It's cool, I'd still do you." The boy laughed.

"Thanks." Sakura said lamely. Somehow she didn't feel much better. At least Sasuke had a little bit of tact when it came to playing the game.

"So, you interested?" He asked.

Sakura was confused. "In what?"

"A good fuck."

For the second time in one night Sakura's jaw dropped. _Seriously? _"No, no I think I'm alright.

She pried Ino off of her and pushed past 'her men' and immersed herself within the crowd of people. It was much too embarrassing to stay with that group any longer.

Did that boy actually think Sakura would be interested in having sex with him? She didn't even know his name! Not to mention that fact that his proposition came shortly after he had insulted her. Was this really how willing participants found each other in the sex game? Sakura was repulsed.

Strangers around her were laughing and dancing. She couldn't help but wonder what made them so different from her. Why didn't this come as easily to her as it did to them? She was convinced that the others could smell how uncomfortable she was and knew to stay away from her.

Was she jealous of them? Yes. School was easy for Sakura. She was smart, hardworking, and well disciplined. Sakura thrived in intimate social gatherings. She could handle when it was just five friends, some sodas, and a box of pizza. But parties? Why were parties so difficult for the pink haired girl?

Sakura found a nice spot against the wall where she could lean and pass the time. She had the vague hope that maybe a nice sober boy would come along and start some conversation, but she wasn't holding her breath. She was starting to get the distinct impression that she was the only sober person left in the room.

Somewhere in the sea of noise Sakura thought she heard a cry of distress. The pink haired girl was immediately broken out of her moment of self-pity. It sounded an awful lot like Hinata. Sakura's began running through worse case in scenarios and she hurried over to where she thought the sound must have originated. She shoved through couples and dancers and finally found herself at the source of the noise.

"Sakura!" cried Naruto. "Boy you could not have come at a better time than this." He raised his arm and Sakura could see he had his hand full of blood. A crowd was beginning to form around him and someone had the sense to turn the music down.

"Holy-" she covered her mouth with her hand. "What on earth happened to your hand, Naruto?" The blood was beginning to drop down his arm. "Keep your hand up, keep it up above your heart."

"Broken bottle. I put my hand down on top of a broken bottle." Naruto explained.

"Is he going to be alright?" A very pale Hinata asked.

"I don't know." Sakura answered truthfully. With all the blood in the way, she couldn't fully see the extent of the damage. "I think he might need stitches." Hinata looked as if she were about to pass out. "But I really don't know."

"Should we call an ambulance?" somebody asked.

Did they have ambulances in the middle of the desert? Sakura wasn't ready to find out. "No, no it's alright. Lets just get him to the bathroom and wash that hand. Let's see how bad it is."

Luckily, it wasn't very bad at all. He had several cuts but none of them were very deep. "This is really not a big deal. With a few well placed Band-Aids you'll be as good as new."

"Thank goodness!" Hinata said, closing in her arms around him. "You had me so afraid."

"I'm sorry, baby." He kissed her. "It was the bottle's fault, really."

But they weren't out of the woods yet, Naruto was still bleeding and Sakura doubted that he wanted to spend the rest of the night hold a towel to his hand. "I don't suppose anyone has any Band-Aids handy?" Sakura asked looking toward the people crowded into the bathroom. "No Band-Aids?"

"There is a mini mart downstairs in the lobby that's open all night." Said a girl Sakura didn't recognize. "If you've got some money you can go buy some Band-Aids."

Was that an excuse to leave the party she heard? Sakura jumped at the chance before anyone else had the time to volunteer. "I'll do it! I've got my money right here." She patted her jeans pocket. "I can go now."

The people of the bathroom parted for her and Sakura escaped the hotel room. The bright hallway and the clean air was a relief to the pink haired girl. It was going to take a good amount of will power to get her back into that dark dismal dungeon of drunken doom. She would just have to remind herself that Naruto really needed those Band-Aids.

She rode the elevator down to the lobby and counted her blessings that she found an excuse to get some fresh air.

Sakura wondered if that boy from earlier really thought she wasn't hot. Was Sakura hot? It wasn't her fault that she had the body of a thirteen-year-old boy. She thought Ino had done a pretty good job with her makeup and her outfit was very flattering. Sakura usually didn't wear skirts that were this short but she figured it was okay since she had a conservative top on. In Sakura's humble opinion she thought she looked like at the very least a seven. If she was good enough for Sasuke, (Sasuke only went out with gorgeous girls) then she should be good enough for any other guy too. She had never been this self-conscious about her appearance before. This didn't feel much like a vacation at all.

When the elevator reached the lobby floor and the doors opened, Sakura was a girl with a destination. She spotted the market over next to the girt shop. Maybe while she was in there she would pick up some hang over medicine for her friends who would certainly need it in the morning.

She strode over to the store with a sense of purpose. Should she get big Band-Aids or small ones? Should she get fun colorful ones, or would Naruto find that kind of the childish? Probably not, but then- Sakura stopped walking. "Oh shoot!"

He looked up at the sound of her voice and his faced darkened. It was the pool boy; he was the one running the register. "It's the dumb bitch." He glowered at her.

Sakura laughed nervously. "Yeah, that's me."

"Why the hell are you laughing? Did I say something funny?" He spoke in a voice as cold as death.

She blushed. Boy this really wasn't her night. "N-no." She stuttered. Sakura cleared her throat. She was worse than Hinata! "No." she said more clearly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to offend you."

He stared at her and she looked at her shoes. Just when she thought her night could get any worse. Why did it have to be the red head pool boy?

"Well?" He asked impatiently.

Sakura head shot back up. "Yeah?"

"What the hell do you want?"

"Oh." She said, startled. "I need Band-Aids."

"_Go get them then_" he said her, like she was stupid or something.

She was anxious to get out of the market so she picked the first box of bandages she saw on the shelf and brought them back over to the register.

She should have anticipated that she would have to see him again. When he opened his mouth to speak again, she was nervous that he would yell at her again.

"Let me guess. Some drunk idiot had an accident?" he rang up the box, typing numbers into the keyboard. Thankfully his anger seemed to have somewhat dissipated.

This gave Sakura the chance to study him. He wasn't wearing a hotel uniform anymore. He had on worn jeans. Sakura could tell by the way he wore them, that they were his favorite pair. His blue shirt was the same way, faded and threadbare but comfortable looking. He wasn't particularly broad shouldered or muscular, but he still had a certain strength about him. It was his hands in particular that seemed strong.

"Pretty much." She answered, continuing to watch him. "He put his hand down on a broken bottle."

"You tourists are all morons." He shook his head.

"Naruto might now be the smartest person I know, but he's still a really good guy. It was his idea to come out to the desert. The rest of us wanted rent a house by the beach."

"I bet you're wishing you're at the beach now." The boy said humorlessly.

"Not really. I thought I would hate it here, but I can't."

"You're and idiot then." He put the Band-Aid box back onto the counter. "And that's four dollars."

Sakura took her wallet out of her pocket and retrieved four one dollar bills. "Here." She handed them to him.

He carefully put the money into the register and printed her out a receipt. "You can just charge it to your room next time."

"Okay." She would have to remember that for next time.

He stared at her wallet. "You should give me a twenty too."

"What?" She asked. Why would she give him twenty more dollars? That was a ridiculous price to pay for a tiny box of bandages.

"You owe me for pushing me in the pool."

"You want me to _pay_ you for that?"

He stuck his hand out further. "You said you'd make it up to me."

Well, he had her there. She did remember saying she would make it up to him. Paying him for his troubles seemed reasonable. Kind of.

"Um, okay." She pulled out the money from her wallet and placed it into his hand. It felt really awkward paying this strange boy for something that was just an accident.

He closed his fingers around the bill and shoved it into his pocket. "Now get the hell out of here." He pointed to the elevator on the other side of the lobby.

"Right." She didn't need to be told twice. Sakura took the box of Band-Aids off the counter and turned away. She had taken three steps out the door when he called her back.

"Wait." He said. Maybe he decided he couldn't take her money after all.

She faced him. "Yeah?"

"Better make it forty."

_Excuse me?_ "Forty dollars?"

"_No_, forty elephants. Of course forty dollars. You're even stupider than I thought."

"Fine." At this point she just wanted to get away from him. She went into her wallet again and put the money on the counter. "That's it. I don't have any more money with me."

"Okay." He put the second twenty in his pocket with the first.

She hoped he was satisfied. But again he stopped her when she tried to leave.

"Wait." He called.

"I was serious when I said I didn't have any more money." She said over her shoulder. She tried to ignore him and keep walking.

"Wait, come back here!" He said more loudly this time.

She wondered what would happen if she continued to ignore him. Would he just let her walk away from him? Some how she figured that he wasn't the type of guy you wanted to defy or mess with. She remembered his anger when she _accidentally_ pushed him into the pool. She turned back around and grudgingly walked over to him. If only she wasn't so intimidated by him…

"What's your name?" He asked. The boy leaned over the counter so they were standing face to face.

"Sakura."

"Well, _Sakura_, I've thought of another way you can make it up to me." His tone was much too innocent.

Sakura was suspicious. "Oh really? And what's that?"

"A kiss." He said. "You could kiss me."

Her heart skipped a beat. Why in the world would she kiss this mean boy? Why would he even ask that of her? "You want me to kiss you?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded. "On the lips."

Sakura sputtered. "I'm not going to kiss you!"

"Why not?"

"You were mean to me!" A thought occurred to Sakura. "And you're still being mean to me! You're making fun of me."

She couldn't believe he was this much of a jerk. This was worse than guilt tripping her into giving him everything in her wallet. What did he hope to accomplish by tricking her into thinking he wanted her to kiss him? She already knew that he hated her, but this was going too far. This was cruel.

But his face remained blank. "I'm not making fun of you. I just want to see how far you're willing to go to earn my forgiveness."

She was starting to get really annoyed with him. "How is that any better? You're just another mean boy trying to amuse himself by playing games with me. You're just like those 'drunken idiots' upstairs." It probably wasn't the best of ideas to provoke this boy, but she couldn't resist telling him what she thought of him.

"Sakura," he said quietly. "I promise you that I'm unlike _any_ boy you've ever met."

"Oh yeah?" She didn't believe him. He was just another jerk in a vast sea of jerks.

"Yeah." He smirked. "But you're right. I _am_ just playing games with you.

"I don't play games." She told him seriously. "What would you have done if I _had_ agreed kissed you?"

"I knew you wouldn't, so it doesn't matter."

He was avoiding the question. "Would you have kissed me back?

"No." He frowned deeply. "I get paid to do odd jobs, not to kiss guests. I'm not Kankuro."

"Kankuro actually gets paid to kiss guests?" Sakura was shocked.

The boy snorted. "No, but that doesn't stop him. He and my sister think this place is their personal dating pool."

"You're Kankuro's brother." Sakura observed.

"Yeah, only I follow the 'no fraternizing with the guests' rule."

Sakura laughed. "He's upstairs 'fraternizing' with guests in my room. I was having a party." She explained.

"Well I can see you're anxious to get back to that." He said sarcastically. He was right of course, she had no desire to go back upstairs, even to get away from the strange boy.

"I'm not very good at partying." She said.

"How can a person be _bad_ at partying?"

"I don't know…" Sakura shrugged uncomfortably. How could she explain it? "But that's why I'm the one down here getting the Band-Aids."

"Isn't it possible that you just don't like partying?"

It was _very_ possible that she didn't like partying. But what kind of teenager didn't like to party? She didn't want everyone to think she was an old woman! "Anything is possible, I suppose."

"If I were you, I'd tell everyone to get the hell out of my room. If you don't want them up there then make them get out, don't come down here and bother me about it." The boy said. Despite the nature of his words, she could tell he wasn't angry like before. She also didn't get the impression that he was asking her to leave either.

"I don't want to ruin their fun." She backed away from the counter. "Anyways, I should probably go, Naruto needs these Band-Aids." She shook the box.

"Next time make him get his own shit."

She smiled. "But then how would I get to see you?"

The boy looked at her as if she was insane. "I think that's something you can live without."

For the third (and hopefully the last) time Sakura walked to the door. When she got there, she turned around and looked at him. She had felt him watching her leave. "You know, I probably would have done it." She said.

"Done what?"

"Kissed you."

"_What?_"

"If you hadn't stopped pressuring me, I probably would have broken down and just kissed you."

He stared at her.

Sakura clapped her hands. "Right then, I guess I'll see you around." She knew she wouldn't get very far until-

"Wait."

Sakura swallowed. She had done this to herself. She turned around and saw that he had come out from behind the counter.

"I want my kiss." He said, catching up to her.

"I thought you said-"

"I'm not kissing you, you're kissing me. There's a difference."

"Oh there's a difference?" She met him halfway. For the first time she noticed how handsome he was. He had the most striking eyes.

"A big one." He said, stepping closer to her.

Sakura felt her pulse begin to speed up. What exactly was it that she planned on doing with him? Wasn't it just twenty minutes ago that he was calling her names and she was hiding from him behind the first aid aisle?

She took a deep breath. It was just a little kiss. In other countries, it's just another way of saying 'hello'. She could do this. She could kiss a stranger.

Even when she was standing on her toes he was still a little too tall for her, so she raised her hand to his face and pulled his head down to her level. His face was too serious for a man so young.

"Its one kiss and I'll forget everything that's happened."

Sakura give him a wry smile. "Don't you mean one kiss and two twenties?"

He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to kiss me or not?" he asked with irritation.

"I'm working up the nerve to do it. I don't usually kiss strange men I meet in hotels. This seemed a lot easier when I pictured it in my head." Sakura tried to let go of his face but the boy caught her hand.

"One kiss." He said. She could feel his breath on her face.

"One kiss" she repeated. One kiss…

She leaned forward and closed the distance between their mouths, gently placing her lips on top of his. Sakura slowly and carefully kissed him.

But when she pulled her lips away she could feel his begin to follow. This was too much for one night. As soon as she realized what he was about to do she clamped her hand shut over his mouth.

She blushed for the umpteenth time that night. "You can't do that." She told the wide-eyed boy. "That would be against the rules." When she saw that he understood what she meant she took her hand off his mouth. "I don't want you to get in trouble for fraternizing with guests."

"And you should probably be getting back upstairs to your party." He backed away from her.

Sakura nodded "Right." Her brain didn't seem to be working quite right, and her lips… they felt like they were _buzzing_. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, uh…?

"Gaara." He offered. "My name is Gaara."

She tried to fight it, but in the end her face broke out into a smile. "I'll see you around, Gaara."

Sakura spent the entire elevator ride up with her hands on hips lips, wondering what would have happened if she hadn't pushed him back.

* * *

**If you've read any of my other creations then you might think the characters in this story are a little different then the ones in my others. Thats why I wanted to write another story, I wanted to play around with the personalities! This was fun to write because this I'm kind of a sun loving - devout partyer - frequent flyer so I had to imagine what it would be like for someone who wasn't into that kind of thing. I hope I got it right!  
**

**I don't know how often I'll update this one. I think this is going to be more of a side side project. But then again, who really knows? I'm a little unpredictable when it comes to updating. **

**Like it? Like it more or less than my other writing? Let me know! And thanks for reading.**

**(P.S) Does anyone think it would be totally Nancy Drew (in a bad way) to have a hotel guest get murdered?  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

Monday

"My hangover is way to bad for me to do anything other than sitting in the dark." Ino rubbed her temples. "My head is _pounding._"

"Well that's what you get for drinking like a frat boy." Sakura had no sympathy for her blond friend.

"Shhhh. Keep your voice down. Everything inside my head is echoing."

Sakura sighed. "You really want to lie in bed all day? Don't you want to come check out Ubehebe Crater with the rest of us?"

"You're really asking me if I want to sit in a car for an hour in this heat just to see a giant hole in the ground?" Ino shook her head. "No way in hell is that happening, Forehead."

She could see that there would be no reasoning with Ino, especially in this state. "Fine, sit in here all day and do nothing. Just don't complain to me later that you're bored."

"If you won't, I won't." Ino stuck out her tongue.

Ino didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Sakura was not going to be bored! That was ridiculous.

Ok, maybe Ino wasn't so ridiculous after all. When Sakura and the rest of the crew arrived at Ubehebe Crater they realized there wasn't much else to do besides look around. The view was spectacular, no doubt about it, but other then the view, there wasn't anything there. There is only so long you can stare at a crater.

"The crater was formed when magma migrated close to the surface and the heat of the magma flashed groundwater into steam, throwing large quantities of pulverized old rock and new magma across the stony alluvial fan draped across the valley floor." Said the tour guide.

But all Sakura and her friends heard was "blah, blah, blah."

"I wish there was a cooler explanation for this." Naruto said. "Like if it was made by animals or a moon rock or something."

Sakura laughed. "A moon rock?"

"Yeah, like a giant piece of the moon fell from the sky and landed here."

"That would be pretty exciting." Said Hinata.

Shikamaru sighed. "It sounds pretty troublesome to me…"

"No, man," Naruto said, "it'd be awesome. Then we could say that all the people who live in the town are the descendents of moon people."

Moon people? "Where do you come up with this stuff?" Sakura asked. "How is it that you can tell crazy stories like this, but you got a 'D' in composition class?"

"Composition class is right before lunch. How am I supposed to think on an empty stomach?"

Sasuke came up behind Naruto and knocked on his head. "It doesn't matter how full your stomach is if your head is empty."

The entire group erupted in laughter and headed back over towards their rented cars. If they got back early enough, they could squeeze in another swim before dinner. Sakura wondered if a certain boy would be working at the pool today.

She couldn't believe that she had actually kissed him. She couldn't believe that he had even asked her to kiss him. The whole event blew her mind. Things just didn't add up. He had been so mean to her and it was clear that he didn't like her, so why would he want her to kiss him?

It was a sweet kiss. The boy, _Gaara_, had very nice lips. Sakura liked they way the felt against hers.

She wondered if he was serious when he said that he didn't kiss guests. It was obvious to her, that if she hadn't stopped him when she did, he was going to make her an exception to the rule. Did it matter whether or not he was a player? She doubted that there would ever be another moment like that between the two of them.

"What are you thinking about?" Sasuke asked Sakura. She had forgotten she was sitting next to him.

"What?" Why would he want to know that?

"You've got a cute expression on your face." He explained. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, uh nothing really." She shrugged. "Just last night."

"I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have left you."

"Left me?"

"Yeah, I don't take rejection well. I'm sorry I walked out on you."

Is that what had happened? Sakura gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. It was just a dumb party. I've forgotten about it already."

"Good." He put an arm around her shoulders. "Tonight is going to be different. I promise."

"Tonight?" She was confused. "We're not having another party, are we?"

"Of course we're having another party." He looked at her like she had just asked the silliest question in the world. "This is our vacation… we're partying every night."

Oh. Joy. "Right." Sakura forced a laugh. "I knew that."

Sasuke shifted so his leg was pressed fully against hers. He put his hand on her knee. "So anyways, where did you go last night? The last time I saw you was when that idiot, Naruto, hurt his hand. What happened to you after that? You went to get Band-Aids right?"

Should she tell him about the rendezvous she had with the strange boy in the lobby? "Nothing happened after that. I went and got the bandages and then I went to sleep in Hinata's room. All the traveling we've done really wore me out."

"Well, don't worry. Like I said, tonight is going to be different." He squeezed her knee.

Doubt it, but nice try Sasuke. "We'll see…"

* * *

The boy wasn't at the pool today. Sakura very discreetly looked out for him from behind her dark sunglasses. She had a feeling that he was working somewhere in the resort, but she didn't know where. Sakura wasn't going to seek him out or anything… but she was a little curious about him.

Even though there were no cute boys at the pool, Sakura and her friends still managed to have a good time.

Sakura soaked herself in waterproof sunscreen and left the cover of the big umbrellas to play in the pool with the guys. It was much better than lying in the sun with Ino. Although, the looks Sasuke was giving her were unnerving. She didn't know whether or not to like the way he was brazenly staring at her half naked body.

She liked Sasuke; she really did like him a lot. He was one of her oldest and dearest friends, not to mention the very first boy she had ever loved. But this was a little ridiculous. She had explained to him why it was a bad idea for them to get together and she was starting to resent him for defying her wishes. It was a hard decision for her to make and he wasn't making her life any easier by continuing to try and put the moves on her.

Swimming really worked up her appetite so after they were showered and clothed, Sakura and friends soon found themselves at the hotel restaurant once again.

"So I was thinking that maybe we should make it just us tonight." Naruto said, while the teenagers waited for their meals.

"What do you mean 'just us'?" Asked Ino.

"I mean, no outsiders." Naruto explained. "We should just party with the nine of us."

That sounded like a good idea to Sakura. She would be one hundred and ten percent more comfortable if it was just going to be her friends from Konoha and not a bunch of strangers. "I agree."

"We can kick it middle school style." Said Kiba. "You know, play truth or dare and spin the bottle."

"This sounds slightly less troublesome than a big party like the one last night." Said Shikamaru.

"Oh really?" Ino looked at him slyly out of the corners of her eyes. "You mean you're not anxious to see that cougar you were sucking face with last night?"

Shikamaru chose not to dignify that with a response.

"The point is that this is our chance to make some memories and learn new things about each other." Said Naruto. "It'll be fun."

"I'm down." Said Sakura.

"Me too." Hinata said, putting her hand on top of Naruto's. "I think it's a very good idea."

Then it was settled. Sakura was thrilled that she wouldn't have to deal with the Effron brothers again. "This is good. Some of those people we were partying with last night were questionable."

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Ino.

"Those guys were pigs." Sakura deadpanned.

Ino looked confused. "Which guys? Guys at the party?"

"Yes, guys at the party. I'm talking about the ones who were following you around like sheep."

Kiba laughed. "Yeah, those guys were pretty lame. You really know how to attract losers, Ino."

The rest of the guys around the table began to laugh too. Ino on the other hand, looked pissed.

"They're no worse than the skanks you usually hang around with." She said acidly. "I know you like dogs, but that's no reason to date them."

The guys laughed again. Choji slapped a hand on Kiba's shoulder.

"She got you good, man." He said.

Kiba growled. "Say's the girl who dated a convicted felon."

Ino gasped. "How dare you! He paid his debt to society. It's not like he was dangerous."

"Two words for you." Kiba held up two fingers. "Drug. Dealer."

Everyone, including Sakura and Hinata, laughed. Ino narrowed her eyes.

"You think you're so funny." She dipped her hand into her water glass, pulled out an ice cube, and threw it at Kiba.

It hit him in the face.

By this time, Sakura and her friends were all howling with laughter until Kiba decided to get his revenge. He reached into his own glass and pulled out a hand full of slippery ice cubes and cold water and threw it across the table.

An ice cube flew through the air and landed down Ino's shirt.

This is when several things happened all at once.

Ino squealed, abruptly stood up and tried to shake the ice out of her shirt. Sakura, oblivious to the bus boy behind her, pushed her chair back and also stood up to try and help the distressed Ino. "Here let me…"

Ino, also oblivious to her surroundings, accidentally elbowed Sakura in the face, causing her to stumble backwards and bump into the poor bus boy. The bus boy, not expecting this, fumbled the water pitcher in his hands and spilled the entire pitcher all down the front of his uniform.

The entire table fell silent. Sakura had a bad feeling. She slowly turned around and her fear was confirmed. For the second time in two days Sakura Haruno had drenched the red haired boy in water.

"Oops." Sakura whispered. She flushed bright red. When was she going to stop embarrassing herself? And just when she thought she had gotten things squared away with him. This was not how she wanted to meet him again.

Once again, the redhead looked positively livid. Smoke might as well have been pouring out of his ears.

Sakura took a deep breath. "I am so-"

"Save it." Gaara said, his voice deathly calm. He put the empty pitcher down on the table and walked away with out saying another word.

Sakura was stunned. She couldn't believe that she had done it again.

"Well, that guy sure must hate you." Naruto said, snapping Sakura out of her daze.

Now she felt nothing but guilt. That was twice in a row that she had ruined his day. How would she feel if he came up to her and pushed her into a pool or spilled water down her shirt? She would be angry too, maybe not as angry as he seemed to be, but she would still be pretty upset.

"What do I do now?" she asked.

"You sit down and wait for your food to come." Ino said. "Don't worry about him. I get the feeling that he's just an angry guy to begin with."

"I don't know." Hinata said, looking thoughtful. "Maybe you should go after him and try to apologize." She suggested. "Maybe he will feel better if he sees that you've gone to the trouble of finding him and apologizing."

Maybe she was right. Maybe all it would take to make things better was a sincere apology.

"That sounds like a good idea, Hinata." Sakura said. "Thanks."

Despite the rest of the table's protests, Sakura ventured in the direction and behind the doors she had seen the red head go through.

Behind the hustle and bustle of the restaurant kitchen the lone red head was sitting on top of a table with his head in his hands. He was shirtless.

He must have sensed her coming because he looked up. When he saw her standing there he closed his hands over his eyes again. "Go away." He said tiredly.

Sakura ignored him and instead rushed to his side. "I'm sorry." She said with desperate eyes. "It was another accident. I didn't know you were standing there."

He groaned. "You are the single worst guest we've ever had."

"I said I was sorry." Sakura said in a small voice. She looked at the floor. Why was he so difficult? It really wasn't that big of a deal. It was really just his shirt that had gotten wet, and he had taken that off. "Besides, it's not like I spilled acid on you or anything. It was just water."

"Oh really?" A sinister look flashed in his eyes.

She really should have seen it coming. Gaara reached down beside him on the ground and produced a giant blue bucket. The way his biceps flexed when he lifted it up into the air clued her in on how full it was.

Sakura gave a startled gasp when she realized what he was planning on doing. "Don't-"

But it was too late. She braced herself and the next thing she knew she was soaked from head to toe in freezing cold water.

"See, just water." He said sarcastically while shaking the bucket so the last drops of water fell to the floor. "It feels great."

"You jerk!" Sakura sputtered. "Where did that water even come from?"

"It was ice we were using to chill the bottles of champagne." He smirked. "And now it's the water I've dumped on your head."

Sakura wiped the water off her face. "You are terrible." Everything was wet, her shirt, her bra, her shorts, her underwear- everything. She felt as if she was going to cry. "I _accidentally _spilled water on you. You _intentionally_ got me wet!"

He stubbornly crossed his arms and got back up on top of the table. "Well, maybe if you hadn't given such a crappy apology…"

"What world do you live in? Apologies just involve words! Not money! Not kisses! Not dumping water on innocent girls!"

He rolled his eyes. "You're not innocent. You got me wet first."

Sakura began to shiver. Thanks goodness she wasn't wearing a white shirt. The wet fabric clung to her body like a second skin and kept her from feeling anything other than cold. Her eyes began to brim with tears. She was so embarrassed. "It was an _accident_." She said, her voice wavering. "You are really, really mean. It was an _accident_ and I said I was sorry."

"Shit." He muttered under his breath. "She's going to cry now."

"I am not!" She shouted angrily. But tears had already begun to make their way down her face.

Gaara sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hopped off the table and began to rummage through the drawers and cabinets on the wall behind her. He finally pulled out a long white sheet, which Sakura recognized to be a tablecloth.

What was he planning to do with that? Sakura didn't know and she didn't care. She was so embarrassed. How naïve was she? She had come back there with the silly idea that he might take her apology good-naturedly and brush the whole incident aside. She never expected some sort of retaliation.

But then he was in front of her, putting the cloth around her shoulders and wrapping it around her shaking body.

Sakura didn't know what to think now. Up close he wasn't so scary. Up close, she realized with a start, he was actually one of the finest specimens of the male form she had ever seen. His entire torso looked as if it were crafted by a visionary artist. He was like a sculpture that belonged in a museum. Despite the fact that she was completely miserable her hand itched to trace the lines and ridges of his taut muscles.

To her immense relief, Gaara seemed not to notice her distraction. He gently pulled her dripping hair out from under the sheet and pushed it away from her face before carefully wringing it out.

Sakura sniffled. "I would have paid you again. You didn't have to pour water on me."

"I know." He said quietly. He raised his hand to her face and carefully brushed her tears away. "I forgot that you were just a girl."

Sakura's eyes widened. He forgot that she was a girl? Was she really lacking that much femininity? "Do I not look like a girl?"

"I didn't mean it like that." He said quickly.

"Because I know I don't have long blond hair or really big breasts… but I always thought that my features were too soft to be manly. I mean, I'm pretty sure that I look like a girl."

Gaara put his hands on her shoulders. "You're names Sakura right?"

She nodded dumbly.

"Sakura, there is absolutely nothing manly about you. You are quite clearly a girl, which is why I'm screwing up so badly. I'm just not used to being around girls much the less talking to one."

"You're not used to being around girls?" she asked curiously.

"I just graduated from an all boys military academy. The only time I'm around women is when I work here during the summer, and usually guests don't want anything to do with me."

"I wonder why that is…" Sakura said, glowering at him. "You're such a charmer."

"What's the point in being nice to guests? Most of them treat me like dirt no matter what I do. That's why I pick the jobs that have the least human contact possible."

Least human contact, eh? Is that why he asked her to kiss him? "I'm the exact opposite. My job is all about interacting with people."

"Are you a prostitute?"

Sakura's jaw dropped. Was that a serious question? "Are you really asking me if I'm a _prostitute_?

Gaara shrugged, his face blank. "Prostitution is a job with a lot of interaction."

Sakura adjusted her tablecloth. "I'm a candy striper at a hospital. And that's _striper_ not _stripper_. It's a perfectly respectable job. Do I really seem like someone who trades sex for money?" she asked indignantly.

"Not really, but it was the first job that came to mind when you said interacting with people."

Sakura stared at him. "You are _so_ weird."

"You're the moron who followed me back here."

"I wanted to apologize. I wanted to give you a sincere apology! How was I supposed to know that you're mentally unbalanced?"

His eyes narrowed. "You have you're apology, now why are you still here?"

Sakura let the tablecloth fall to the ground. It was really doing nothing to soak up the water or keep her warm. "If I got back out _there_ like this my friends will come back _here_ and kill you."

"And you don't want that to happen." It was a statement not a question.

"Do you?"

"I don't know. I think I could take them."

Sakura snorted. "All six of them? I don't care how fit you are, you would lose against Naruto."

"Maybe, maybe not. It's probably better if we don't find out. My father will refuse to pay me if he finds out that that I've done something to upset a guest."

Sakura put her hand on her hip. "And what exactly do you call what you did to me?"

Gaara looked horrified. "You're not going to tell on me, are you?"

Oh? And what was he planning on doing to her if she _did _tell on him? "Maybe, maybe not."

He smiled. "You're not going to tell on me. I can tell. You don't want me to get in trouble."

He was right. What he had done was downright cruel, but for some reason, she didn't hate him for it. Was she some sort of masochist? Because she sort of liked him. But it wasn't _for_ his actions no, it was _despite_ his actions. There was something seriously wrong with her.

"No." she said weakly. "I don't want you to get in trouble. You deserve it though. Why did you think it was a good idea to dump water on me?"

"I was angry and working here can be stressful enough without accident prone guests. And like I said, I forgot who I was dealing with. We lived by different rules at my school."

"And you have no idea whatsoever how to deal with girls."

"I have some idea…" he objected.

"No. You are tactless. Do you realize that yesterday I kissed you? Not only that, but you tried to kiss me back. So don't stand there and pretend you forgot who I was."

His cheeks turned just faintly red. "You don't understand, I was tired and angry and I wasn't thinking clearly. If I was thinking clearly, I would have made you kiss me again, not splashed you like that."

Her eyebrows rose. "You would have made me kiss you again?"

His blush darkened. "I didn't mean that."

"So you don't want me to kiss you again?"

He looked away from her. "There is a no fraternizing with guests rule."

"Okay then." Sakura bent down and picked up the tablecloth. She folded it sloppily and handed it to him. "Thanks for this. It was sweet of you."

"What?" he looked confused. "Where are you going?"

"Hot shower." She answered simply. "And then I'm going to find someone else to kiss." Sakura started walking backwards toward the kitchen chaos. "But I enjoyed talking with you. I'll try not to let this happen again.

"Wait," he called to her, "who are you going to kiss?"

She smiled archly. "Someone who doesn't feel the need to assault me with a bucket of water."

She turned around and headed for the door back into the restaurant. She was dripping water everywhere. She stopped in her tracks and then turned around. "Gaara, was it?"

He gave her a nod.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me tattling on you. I'm not that kind of girl."

"I wasn't worried."

"Okay then," she gave him a wave as she backed away, "have a good night then."

"Yeah." He said softly.

Sakura exited the kitchen and slipped by her friends who were busy eating their dinner. She road the elevator up to her floor and ignored all the strange looks she was getting from the other guests.

That boy was so strange. His excuse for dumping water on her was that he doesn't know how to deal with girls? That was ridiculous! It was impossible that someone as good looking as he didn't have _some _experience with the fairer sex. It was very unlikely that this was the case. He probably gave her that impromptu bath because he was a jerk and couldn't help his jerkish tendencies.

And what did he mean when he said he would have made her kiss him again. Did that mean he was interested in her? But then he said he didn't want to kiss her. Was he not interested in her?

It just didn't make any sense.

Well, one thing was still for sure. She needed to shower and dry off quickly so her friends wouldn't suspect anything.

And besides, the night was still young.

* * *

**I should be working on my other story, but I think I needed a break. **

**If any of you heard about my legal troubles then I have great news for you. The people who own the building decided not to press charges! I think it will still show up on my record that I was arrested but I wont get punished or anything. According to my parents though, this is just another link in the chain of disturbing behaviors I have exhibited in the past couple of months. So for all of you who read PWK, don't expect and update for a little while because I'm taking a break from school to go to this health spa sort of place. I don't think they'll let me bring my computer. So I'll be MIA for a week or two.  
**

**Guys, I just watched the entire season of Toradora! GO AND WATCH IT! all of you need to watch it. It's Adorable. It made me cry and laugh and smile. Its so good. really really really good. You will not be sorry you watched it. **

**Thanks for all the reviews people have left. I made an executive decision not to have a murder. Too many people didn't want one. **

**leave some more ? I 3 you all something mad.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow it's another chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own naruto.  
**

* * *

Monday/Tuesday

"Oh my…" Said Sakura.

"I think I'm…" Said Ino.

"Drunk!" they said in unison and proceeded to laugh hysterically.

Sakura waved the empty liquor bottle over her head. "If you drink it fast the taste doesn't kill you. I think I kinda like this stuff. I'm like tingly n' stuff. Stuff. Stuff. Stuff." She threw her head back and laughed again. "Oh god who's turn is it?"

"It's Sasuke's turn." Naruto nodded toward the dark haired boy sitting next to her. "Spin the bottle Sasuke!"

The nine friends all cheered.

"Come one Sasuke, maybe you'll get another magical kiss from Naruto." Ino teased.

"Ha-ha, very funny. Just give me the bottle." Sasuke snatched it out of Sakura hands. He smirked at her. "How you doing there, Sakura?"

Sakura giggled and smiled prettily at him "Hi, Sasuke…"

Sasuke set the bottle onto the floor and gave it a weak spin. His eyes were on Sakura the entire time.

Ino nudged Sakura in the side. "I think I know who Sasuke wants to kiss..."

Did Sakura want to Sasuke to kiss her? She didn't think so… but then again, her mind didn't seem to be working quite right. Sasuke was a very handsome boy and Sakura couldn't really remember what her problem with him was in the first place. He was so nice and his face was so symmetrical.

The bottle spun and spun until finally it landed on… Hinata!

The room fell silent.

Sasuke smirked again and began to crawl across the circle to where Hinata was sitting red faced with her head in her hands. "Well let's-"

Naruto's hand shot and out grabbed Sasuke's forearm, his grip like iron. "Touch my girlfriend and I will end you." His voice deadly serious.

The tension in the air was thick. It was almost enough to distract her from the way the room was spinning. "Maybe we should play something else." Sakura suggested.

"Yeah, one that doesn't involve your slimy lips on my girlfriend." Naruto cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"Ok." Sasuke settled back into his place. "Let's play truth or dare."

Ino rubbed her hands together. "This is my favorite. I'm the truth or dare master!"

"Then you wouldn't mind going first?" asked Kiba, smiling wolfishly.

Ino narrowed her eyes. "No, I wouldn't mind at all."

"Okay then, truth or dare, Ino?"

"I'll play it safe this round and go with truth."

Kiba was quiet for a moment. He seemed to be searching his mind for a good question. Finally he asked, "Which of the teachers at Konoha Senior High would you have sex with?"

Ino smiled easily. "Just one? How about I give you my top three"

Hinata looked scandalized. "You think these things about our _teachers_?"

"You don't?" Asked Shino. "Kurenai is a perfect ten."

"Are you serious?" Hinata said, eyes wide open. "They're our _teacher_s!

"But some of them are absolute babes!" Kiba leered. "Like Anko!"

"Masochist much?" Asked Shikamaru.

Kiba shrugged. "I mostly just like those see through shirts. She's got some nice tits."

The male population cheered.

What was it with men in breasts? Even sober it was something Sakura didn't understand.

"Sakura and I made a list of Konoha's most doable dudes last year." Informed Ino. "Hinata was there for it too."

Hinata turned bright red again. "You guys are _so_ embarrassing."

Sasuke smirked. "So who is it Sakura? Which of us made the list."

"Uh, none of you." Ino answered for her.

"What do you mean none of us?" disgruntled Sasuke asked.

"She means none of you _boys_ made the list." Said Sakura.

"Just who the hell is on this list?!" He demanded.

"Number three is Naruto's dad." Said Ino.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "MY DAD?"

"Number two is Sasuke's brother." Said Sakura."

Ino licked her lips. "Itachi Uchiha… Yum!"

Sasuke clenched his fists. "You want to have sex with my brother, Sakura?"

Sakura giggled. "That _is_ the purpose of the list. Your brother is sex-y"

It was probably driving him nuts to hear her say that. Sasuke had a mad inferiority complex when it came to his older brother.

"I can't believe this." He grumbled. "Who's number one then?"

Sakura and Ino looked at each other and grinned. "Kakashi Hatake!" They exclaimed in unison.

This seemed to cause somewhat of an uproar.

"Kakashi are you serious? Kakashi the pervert?" Asked Naruto.

"_Kakashi_, Kakashi? Kakashi with the mask and eye patch?" Asked Kiba.

"The one and only." Ino's grin widened.

"What's _his_ appeal?" Asked Sasuke.

_You mean aside from the fact he's not a whiney teenager like you?_ Thought Sakura. Sasuke was lucky that he had his looks.

"He's mysterious." She said.

"An enigma." Offered Ino.

"I bet he's a super hunk under that mask too." Said Sakura dreamily.

"And I bet with all that porn he reads he knows what to do with his hands _and_ his dick." Said Ino.

She and Sakura high fived while the boys all stared at them mouths open in horror.

Okay, so maybe the list wasn't very realistic. Sakura really had no intention of ever embarking on a sexual relationship with any of those men. She couldn't even believe they were discussing such a thing. But for some reason, she _really_ didn't care.

"If you guys ever breathe a word about this to anyone, I will make you regret the day you were even born." Threatened Sakura. She saw Naruto's dad all the time and she couldn't image how humiliated she would be if he ever knew about her attraction to him. Although a strange voice in her head thought it would be a funny idea to call Naruto's house and confess her undying love. Wouldn't that be hilarious?

"Don't even worry." Said Naruto. "I'm going to forget this conversation ever happened."

"So I guess that takes care of my little truth." Said a satisfied Ino.

How was it that Ino was always so unabashed about sex while Sakura could only say admit to her own sexuality in front of the boys when she had a ridiculous amount of alcohol in her system? She didn't mind telling the boys anything now. "You're always truthful, Ino. You've no secrets when it comes to sex."

"You've no sex period."

"Sakura's a virgin?" asked Kiba in disbelief.

"_So_?" Sakura tried not to be embarrassed. "There is nothing wrong with being a virgin." She just hadn't had the right opportunity or the right man.

Kiba put up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just surprised. You're not exactly playboy material, but I still think you're pretty hot."

She was pretty hot? Really? "You're not just saying that because you want to do it with me?" she asked.

Kiba shook his head. "I _don't_ want to do it with you. Nothing personal, I just don't do virgins. They get clingy. But," he looked pointedly at Sasuke, "I think there are other people in this circle who would gladly help you cash in your v card."

Sakura turned away from him. Even drunk, she knew better than to get involved in that conversation.

Truth or dare, Sasuke?" asked Ino.

"Dare." He said with a trademark smirk.

Ino laughed wickedly. "Oh, I have just the thing for you, lover boy. Give me your cell phone."

"My cell phone?" he reached into his coat pocket and handed it to her.

Ino flipped the phone open and pushed several of the keys. She handed it back to him.

"Vibrate? You put my phone on vibrate? That's it?"

"Put it down your pants." Ino commanded.

"_What_?"

"I dare you to put your cell phone down your pants." She said with a straight face. "Right on top of your crotch."

"Um okay…" he undid the top button of his jeans and pushed the phone down. "I don't see how this is a dare." He buttoned his pants back up. "This is just plain weird."

"Kiba?"

"I'm way ahead of you Ino," He said with his own cell phone in hand.

Suddenly there was a strange buzzing noise. Sasuke's face turned red.

"Bastard!" he yelled. He reached to retrieve the phone.

"Uh uh, Sasuke." Ino sing songed. "You have to keep it there for the rest of the game."

"You're kidding me." He groaned

"No, we're not." Said Kiba with a laugh. "And man are you going to have a lot of missed calls when you get that thing back."

The entire group aside from Sasuke laughed.

"Who's next?" asked Ino. She looked around the circle. "I see you hiding back there, Shikamaru. Don't think that you can escape me that easily."

"I just know this is going to be troublesome." He said under his breath.

"Truth or dare?" asked Hinata shyly.

"Truth." Said the lazy bum.

"Have you ever masturbated at school?" Naruto's girlfriend asked.

"Hinata!" squealed Ino. "I didn't know you had it in you to ask such a question."

The dark haired girl shrugged her shoulders and blushed.

"Well," The blond girl said. "Answer the question, Shikamaru."

He stared at the floor. "It was _one time_."

The men cheered and patted Shikamaru on the back.

"We've got to get you a girlfriend, man." Said Choji.

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru said. "Well what about you, Choji. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Who was your first orgasm with?" Ino asked. "Not including yourself, of course."

"Uh, you." He said stupidly.

"Oh." The blond said. "I remember that. It was the eighth grade field trip to that chicken farm. It was-"

"How about we just move on, Ino?" Choji asked, cutting her off.

"Right," Said Naruto. "We don't really need to hear details."

Yeah, the last thing Sakura wanted to hear about was an intimate moment between those two.

"Fine, Uzumaki." Ino gave him a dirty look. "But that means that it's your turn now."

Naruto gulped. "Dare."

"Oh, you do like to live dangerously." Ino said with a grin.

"I've got this one covered." Said Sasuke. He turned to Naruto. "I dare you to strip down, go across the hall, knock on the door and ask if you can use their shower."

Sakura shrieked. "I think old people are staying across the hall! Or what if it's a family with small children?"

Sasuke shook his head solemnly. "Whoever it is doesn't matter."

"Alright." Naruto stood up and began removing his clothes. "I'll show you bastards what a real man looks like."

"Naruto no!" Hinata covered her eyes. "Not in front of all these people!"

"What's wrong Hinata?" a confused Naruto asked. "You've seen me naked loads of times!"

It was a good thing Neji wasn't there to hear him say that.

Sakura averted her eyes too. Seventeen years ago they had taken baths together, but now she wasn't ready to see a teenage Naruto in his naked glory.

Ino on the other hand, reached next to her and grabbed a bag of chips out of Choji lap. "This I have got to see."

Sakura couldn't believe he was getting _naked_ in front of all their friends. He was going to let everyone see his, his _thing._

Everyone but Hinata and Sakura followed Naruto out of the room to hide and watch in the hallway.

"You're boyfriend is brave." Sakura told Hinata.

"My boyfriend is an idiot." Hinata deadpanned.

"But he's _your_ idiot."

"Yeah," she smiled. "I guess he is. But what about you, Sakura? I get the impression that Sasuke has feelings for you."

Sakura closed her eyes. Her entire body felt like it was buzzing, and not in a pleasant way. "Sasuke and I are just friends."

"Does he know that?"

The pink haired girl sighed. "By now he should."

They were silent for a moment. Sakura felt like she was on a carousel ride.

A naked Naruto led a parade of disappointed teenagers back into the room.

"No one is staying in the room across the hall." He announced. "At least, no one came to the door."

"They probably looked out the peep hole and saw you standing there. I wouldn't have opened the door either." Said Sakura. "So for god's sake put your clothes back on."

Naruto put his clothes back on and everyone settled back into their seats. There was a collective sigh before Naruto spoke again.

"Truth or dare, Hinata?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Truth." She answered.

Sakura knew that this was going to be a lame one. Hinata was super sensitive and would probably faint if anyone asked her anything too personal.

"I know," said Kiba, "If Naruto wasn't you boyfriend, which of us other guys would you be going out with?"

"Uh… Shino?" she said, unsure.

Naruto growled at Shino. "Stay away from her, bug boy."

"Like anyone would be stupid enough to put the moves on Hinata." Shino said darkly.

"Oh really?" Naruto wasn't convinced. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." Said Shino looking completely unperturbed.

Naruto reached behind him and pulled an ice cube out of the icebox. "I dare you to hold this under your armpit until it melts. Try to keep a straight face."

Shino took the ice from him. "Ok." He took his jacket off and placed it on the floor next to him. He then took the ice cube and stuck it underneath his underarm.

He seemed all right at first, but as the moments passed on his face began to contort into a pained expression. His cheeks turned red and he started to sweat. "This is harder than it looks." He said.

"I know." Naruto said evilly.

The group continued to watch Shino struggled to keep from crying as they waited for the ice to melt. Finally he lifted his arm up in the air and revealed that the task was completed.

The group cheered.

"You're a good man, Shino." Naruto shook the other boy's hand. "If anything ever happened to me, I would be honored if you looked after Hinata."

"Uh, thanks… I guess." Shino said, backing away uncomfortably.

"So I guess that leaves Kiba and Sakura." Said Ino.

"Truth or dare, Kiba?" Sakura asked quickly, before Ino could say anything more.

"Dare!"

"Dare?" repeated Naruto.

"Yeah," said Kiba, "_I'll_ show you all what a real man looks like."

Ino clapped. "This is going to be good."

"You are dead, Kiba." Sasuke sibilated. He was obviously still pretty pissed about the whole cell phone thing. "I dare you to lick Naruto's foot."

Kiba made a face. "No way man, that's disgusting. Naruto never washes his socks."

"A dare's a dare." Sasuke said innocently. "You've got to do it."

"You're lucky I showered today." Naruto took off his shoe. "And you're lucky that I'm dating Hinata, otherwise I wouldn't have used soap."

How charming. Who knew Naruto had such poor hygiene?

Kiba got down on the floor next to Naruto's leg. Naruto wiggled his toes in Kiba's face. "A dare's a dare." Kiba said, looking sick.

Slowly his tongue came out of his mouth and the rest of the group watched in hushed silence. It seemed like Kiba was never going to do it.

So maybe that's why Naruto felt the need to push his food right into Kiba's mouth.

Kiba gagged and ran to the bathroom. "Naruto you bastard!" He called.

Naruto and the rest of the group were howling with laughter.

Why on earth did Sakura find this so funny? It was actually pretty gross and extremely childish. Then why couldn't she stop laughing?

Kiba emerged from the bathroom looking pretty disheveled. What exactly had he been doing in there?

"Laugh it up all you want. Especially you Sasuke. How you feel if I alerted our little Sakura to that crazy bulge in your pants?

Sakura watched Sasuke turn bright red and she sneaked a peek at his lap. Sure enough, the young Uchiha had quite the tent pitched. How awkward was that? "Is that you or the cell phone? It looks kind of painful."

He somehow managed to find the nerve to smirk. "It's aching, Sakura. Maybe you can help me with it."

Those words had an incredible sobering affect on her. What kind of services could she lend to horny Sasuke? Sakura always imagined a romance with Sasuke being less… vulgar. Was he this way with all the girls?

She bit her lip. "I don't know, Sasuke…"

"Truth or dare, Sakura?" He said, his eyes locking with her. "Truth or dare?"

Sakura took a deep breath. "Dare."

The minute the word left her mouth she regretted having said it. Dare? _Dare_? Who knew what Sasuke was going to tell her to do? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn't want anything to do with the bulge in his pants.

How did that happen? A month ago she could only dream of receiving this type of attention from him. She never thought it was possible that he could feel this way about her. She had loved him so much. She still did! Just… not like this.

Why should she have to settle for anything less than what she wanted?

Ino must have sensed Sakura's internal struggle. Before Sasuke could tell her his dare Ino stepped in with a dare of her own.

"I dare you to go down to the lobby and retrieve a business card from the front desk." Said Ino.

"That's a stupid dare!" cried an angry Sasuke. "I've got a better one."

"No!" Sakura objected. "No, this is a good dare for me to do."

Please, she didn't want to do the nasty with Sasuke Uchiha.

"Good, because I'm not finished." Said Ino with a sneaky smile. "You have to do it in your underwear."

Excuse me? In her underwear? "Okay." She said, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal. She didn't want to seem un cool in front of all her friends. Besides, she was still pretty buzzed.

She stood up completely aware that all eyes were on her. She crossed her arms, tugged at the bottom of her tea shirt and pulled the shirt over her head. She dropped the shirt onto the floor next to her feet. Then, she pulled her shorts down, careful not to take her cotton panties with them. She kicked the short out of the way. "Am I allowed to wear my shoes?" she asked.

"We wouldn't want your feet to be cold, now would we?" muttered Sasuke.

That was an asinine comment considering how she was wearing flip-flops. It was clear that he was upset with the direction the game had turned in. She didn't want Sasuke to be upset with her, but she didn't want to have anything to do with him or his erection.

"That's a yes." She took a deep breath. "I guess I'm off then." She tried not to think about how as soon as she turned around, every eye in the room was going to be on her behind.

But Sakura would persevere and she walked out of the room with her head held high.

She was surprised at how steady she was walking down the hallway. The effects of her drinking were rapidly wearing off. Maybe she hadn't been as drunk as she thought she was. It had been almost an hour and a half since she had her last drink. How long was drunkenness supposed to last?

Thankfully, there was no one in awake on her floor. It must have been somewhere between two and three in the morning. She made it to the elevator with no problem. And lucky for her again, there was no one inside. She would hate to run into some sort of night manager.

What if there was someone at the front desk? Oh god, what if there were security cameras? How was she going to explain her state of undress? Would they believe her if she told them she had been sleep walking? Or maybe she could tell the truth and hope that whoever it was would have a good sense of humor.

When the elevator reached the lobby and the doors opened Sakura peeked her head out to first make sure that there was no one in sight. There wasn't a soul.

She walked leisurely over to the front desk and plucked a card from the counter. She stuck the card in her bra and continued to have a look around. There were all sorts of crazy thing behind the front desk like Oreo cookies, dental floss, and Frisbees. What kind of things went on with the employees of this resort?

It was almost too easy. She wondered if she should spice it up and do something outrageous. The light at the gift shop was on, she could check if the red haired jerk was working.

But she really shouldn't try her luck and the last thing she wanted to do was run into that angry boy. That would be incredibly embarrassing.

She pushed the button to ride the elevator up and waited. It was empty when she stepped inside and she knew she was home free. She had made it to the lobby and back without getting caught. She was golden.

Her friends were going to be so impressed when she got back to the room. They probably thought that Sakura wouldn't go through with it, but how wrong they were.

If acting out was this easy then she should have started doing these things a long time ago. She thought of all the wacky things she could have accomplished if she wasn't so busy being a goody two shoes. She could be as cool and exciting as Ino. Sasuke's behavior wouldn't bother her. They could be together with out any problems. Actually, they probably would have started dating sooner.

Her thoughts were interrupted when something unexpected happened. The elevator stopped at the third floor. Sakura was staying on the eighth; she pushed the little round button with the number eight on it. Why was she stopping at the third floor?

Oh god, that meant that the doors would open and someone would step inside. A stranger was going to see her in her bra and underwear! She glanced down, they weren't even sexy under clothes, but at least they patched. Pale pink cotton was relatively inoffensive.

Sakura held her breath. Maybe it was just one of her friends playing a joke on her. Yeah, that seems like something they would do.

The doors opened.

Oh god, it was him! It was Gaara!

His jaw dropped when he realized who and what he was seeing. But his surprise was short lived and soon his look of shock was replaced by anger and contempt. He stopped into the elevator with a decidedly sour expression on his face.

Sakura tried to look casual, like it was completely normal to be half naked in the elevator. "I was sleep walking." She said after a minute of silence.

Gaara gave a disgusted sigh. "You're unbelievable."

His hand reached out and Sakura watched in horror as he pushed the emergency stop button.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded. What game was he playing now?

"What the hell are _you _doing?" he shot back. "Do you have _any_ respect for yourself or this hotel?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura crossed her arms in a futile attempt to regain her modesty.

"Shit." He said. He hooked his thumbs in the back neck of his shirt and with one grand gesture he pulled his top off leaving him in his white undershirt. He handed her his shirt. "Cover up, woman."

Her cheeks turned bright red but she accepted the shirt from him and quickly put it on. She looked up and saw that his demeanor hadn't changed. He was still irritated with her. "I'm sorry." She said, not sure what or why she was apologizing for.

His jaw clenched. "Were you even aware that this is a four star resort and _not_ a frat house?"

Was he really going to stand there and lecture her? "How is that even relevant?"

"You reek of alcohol and you're parading through _my_ hotel in your underwear. You're disrespecting my resort and me. Hell, how old are you?"

"Eighteen." She answered in a small voice.

"Under aged drinking. So you're breaking the law too. Do you have any idea what kind of liability this opens us up to?"

"I'm sorry." Why was she feeling so ashamed all of the sudden?

"Is that the only thing you know how to say?"

"What else do you want me to say?"

"Something intelligible." He shook his head. "You teenagers are all the same. You think this entire world is your playground and the rules don't apply to you. You don't even know what respect honor, and dignity means. You might as well be children."

She took a breath to steady herself. She was _definitely _sober now. "You don't know me. You don't know the first thing about me. You don't know what kind of person I am or how hard I've worked to get where I am. If you think just because I didn't go to military school that I'm some sort of lesser person then you're mistaken. Have you ever worked on the geriatrics ward at a hospital? Until you've spent hours holding a dying person's hand don't talk to me like you know something. That's a crash course in respect, honor and dignity right there. I know it's a lot easier for you to just classify people into stereotypes but that's not going to work with me. Gaara, I promise you that I'm unlike _any_ girl you've ever met."

He didn't say anything after that. Sakura was afraid he was going to ask for his shirt back. She didn't want to feel naked in front of him, not after that little speech.

After standing in silence for a few moments he finally seemed to snap out of it. He pushed the stop button again and the elevator started moving. He pressed the button for the sixth floor and looked anywhere but at her face.

When the doors opened at the sixth floor he turned to her. He didn't look nearly as angry as before. If anything he looked a little embarrassed. "I want to show you something." He mumbled.

"What?" she asked, wondering if she heard him right.

"I want to show you something." He said, more clearly this time.

Part of her wanted to laugh and tell him to go to hell, but another part of her was curious, _very_ curious. "Um, okay…" she said. She followed him out of the elevator. "Where are we going?"

"My room."

His room? He was taking her to his room? What did he planning on doing with her there? If he thought for even a second that he was going to somehow take advantage of her vulnerability she was going to show him the awesome moves she learned in self-defensive class. Oh, the nerve of this boy…

"It's number six oh five." He said, stopping at the door.

"Do you share a room with your brother and sister?" she asked, as she watched him fumbled with the key card.

"No, we each live on different floors." He twisted the handle and opened the door.

He had said it was his room, but it was hardly personalized. It looked like an empty unused hotel room. Actually, she didn't remember her room being this clean when she first arrived.

"It's another military school thing." He said, reading her mind. "It's a habit I can't seem to break."

Sakura wasn't sure what to say to that so she just nodded.

"It's, uh, out there." He pointed to the sliding glass door of the balcony.

Oh god, she hoped he wasn't planning to push her off or anything like that. "Okay." She trailed through the door after him.

The first thing she noticed was how freezing it was. She wrapped her arms around herself. She could see her breath.

The next thing she noticed was the telescope set up in the corner. Is that what he wanted to show her? She tilted her head back and looked toward the sky. "Wow." She whispered in wonder. "That is…" It looked like someone had sprinkled powdered sugar in the night sky. "I never knew there were so many."

"Just wait." He tugged on her hand and brought her to the telescope. "Have a look." She could hear the excitement in his voice.

Sakura looked down into the eyepiece of the telescope and closed one eye. At first, all she saw was black. She knew there was something else to see, something good, so she concentrated and adjusted her eyes. Then she saw it, a single orange star, like an incandescent light bulb in outer space. "What is it? Is it a star?"

"No, it's too close to be a star, guess again."

Then it must be a planet. "Is it mars?" she asked him.

She could almost hear his smile. "Yes. That little light is a planet half the size of earth and thirty five million miles away."

Sakura stepped back to look at him. "You don't say." She smiled wryly.

He pointed to the sky. "It's a desert with mountains and canyons, just like this place."

"And it's red, just like this place."

"Yeah…" he laughed. "Except there's no oxygen."

"That's what a space suit is for!"

All traces of his previous anger had vanished. It seemed like she had passed some sort of test. "Do you want to see something else?" he asked almost shyly.

"Okay." She felt unexpectedly light and airy.

He started adjusting nozzles and the rotation of the telescope before he came to a sudden halt. "Wait." He ran a hand through his hair.

Sakura looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?"

"You're cold aren't you?" He nodded. "I'm an idiot, you must be freezing."

She _was_ freezing. It couldn't be any warmer then forty degrees, but for some reason she didn't seem to mind. "I'm fine." She assured him. "It's refreshing."

He looked amused by her blatant lies. She was shivering for heaven's sake. "Go inside and grab one of the blankets off the bed."

She smiled gratefully, and when she returned with the fuzzy green blanket he was standing next to the telescope with that same excited smile. He was like a little boy who couldn't wait to show off his piece of art. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and wore it like a cape. "What are you showing me next?" she asked.

"Aquarius."

Sakura looked into the scope once more and listened to his softly tell her more about the stars.

"Aquarius was the pourer of the water that caused the flood in the ancient Greek version of the great flood."

"Delphinius is made up of five stars."

"Aquila is named after the eagle."

"Mu Herculis is 27.4 light years from Earth."

After he showed her the last constellation he knew they sat silently together on the bench. "You know a lot about the stars." She commented idly.

He shrugged. "I guess."

For the first time Sakura noticed that, in his undershirt, he was probably just as cold as she was. Before she could talk some sense into herself, she opened up the blanket and draped the side over Gaara too. He looked at her in disbelief and she stared at her lap. She prayed that he wouldn't embarrass her.

He pulled on the edge of the blanket so there was more for him to wrap around himself and he scooted closer to Sakura so the sides of their bodies were flush against each other.

"I used to want to be an astronaut." He looked up at the sky. "All I wanted to do was travel to outer space."

"But not now?"

"I'm not a child anymore. I don't have the same naïveté."

"Oh."

"It's okay. I can still see the stars from here."

She had the urge to bury her face in his chest. The shirt she was wearing smelled like soap and leather, as did the blanket, and as did he. She wanted to inhale the scent at the source.

"Are you going to college in the fall?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "It never occurred to me to apply to any."

"Are you going to work then?"

"My dad said that if I work here for three years and stay out of trouble that he'll give it to me."

So that's what he meant when he said it was _his_ hotel. "He's just going to give it to you?"

"He owns a lot of different buildings. He hasn't been out here since the place was built. It's in his best interest to give it to me."

"You must really like the desert."

"I'm comfortable here. I don't really fit in in Santa Cruz."

Sakura sighed. "I really thought I would hate it here, but it's really not so bad. The heat feels good."

"Everywhere else the nights feel too warm and the days feel too cold. I must have been conceived in the desert, because I know that this is where I belong."

"That sounds nice, having a place you know you belong. I'm going to be living at college for four years so I might as well be living out of cardboard box. Part of me thinks I belong in school and part of me thinks I belong someplace else, someplace where no one knows who I am or where I come from."

"You want to be a doctor." He guessed.

"I haven't even considered an alternate career path." Sakura admitted. "When I picture myself in ten years from now I've got a stethoscope around my neck, but I don't always picture myself happy."

"I think as long as I'm out here in the desert I'll be happy."

What was it about this place that made him so enthusiastic? Was it just the stars and the air?

"Have you been to Dante's View yet?" Gaara asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"It's my favorite place out here."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "I could take you there… that is, if you were interested in seeing it."

Sakura tried to hide her smile. "You're not mad at me anymore?"

"When was I- oh." He shifted. "I was wrong about you and I shouldn't have spoken to you that way. I'm not mad at you."

It was typical of him to apologize now. Sakura was beginning to sense a pattern. "If that's the case, then I'm very interested… in seeing the view."

"Good." He said. "How long are you staying for?"

"The rest of the week."

"I see."

They were enveloped in a pleasant silence.

Sakura felt strange. She barely knew this boy and yet she was desperate to spend more time with him. Even though he had been mean to her, she had a feeling that he was actually a good person. His rude behavior was always cancelled out by the sweet things he did afterwards. And despite what he had said before, they were coming dangerously close to fraternizing.

"I've been wondering about something." He said. "Why were you half naked in the elevator?"

Sakura laughed. "We were playing 'truth or dare'. My dare was to go down to the lobby in my underwear and get a business card. I would have made it too if I hadn't run into you." But she was glad she did.

"'Truth or dare'? Aren't you a little old for that game?"

"Maybe… we played 'spin the bottle' too."

"So you were serious when you said you were going to find someone else to kiss?"

She had forgotten she had said that to him. In any case, the bottle never landed on her, she hadn't kissed anyone. "I was just teasing you. I haven't kissed anyone today." But she wanted to.

"You know," he said slowly, "I'm not actually working right now."

"Oh no?" She asked innocently.

"So what we're doing isn't really against the rules."

"Not to mention, you practically own the place."

"There's that too."

Sakura found his hand and intertwined his fingers with her own. "I _really_ shouldn't like you."

"And I can't understand what it is about you that makes me actually enjoy your company."

Was that a compliment? It was probably the closest thing to one she would ever get from this boy.

He turned and cupped her face in his hand. His touch was cold but his fingers were dry and smooth.

_He is going to kiss me_, she thought.

He leaned in and she closed her eyes. Any moment now their lips were going to meet and-

The door to the balcony flew open. "Gaara, have you seen-" Kankuro's jaw dropped.

"Um, hi?" Sakura was vaguely aware that one of Gaara's hands was still holding her face while the other arm was wrapped possessively around her waist. "Are you looking for me?"

Kankuro just stood there gaping.

She wriggled out of Gaara's grasp and stepped out of their blanket.

Kankuro almost dropped to the ground when he saw that she was wearing Gaara's shirt and nothing else.

Sakura couldn't imagine what sort of assumptions he was making about her now. "Are you looking for me?" she repeated.

Kankuro finally snapped out of it and got a hold on himself. "Your friends are freaking out." He said. "They've been searching everywhere for you."

The pink haired girl felt a rush of guilt. Ino must be worried sick about her. She had been gone for at least an hour. No wonder they were freaking out. "Oh my god, I forgot all about them!"

"I can see that." He smirked at her. "It looks like you've been busy."

Sakura blushed. There was probably no point in tell him that it wasn't what it looked like. "Well, I guess you can go tell them that I'm okay."

"I think you should tell them yourself. I think it's time for you to go back to your own room." Kankuro looked at Gaara. "Isn't that right?"

There seemed to be some sort of silent exchange going on between the two brothers. "I'll come find you tomorrow, Sakura. Okay?" Said Gaara.

"Yes." She hid her disappointment. She didn't want to leave.

Kankuro eyed the two of them suspiciously. "I'm going to take Sakura back to her room now, is that okay with everyone?"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Yes, father."

She _really_ didn't want to leave. It may have been freezing, but sitting next to Gaara under the blanket the temperature was just right. And things were about to heat up even more. She wanted Kankuro to leave them alone so they could get back down to business.

But she knew that wasn't going to happen, and her friends were waiting for her.

"Good night, Gaara." She said reluctantly. "I'll see you later.

He stared up at her, his cheeks were tinted pink but Sakura wasn't certain that it was from the cold. "I think you mean, 'good morning.'"

"Yeah," she swallowed, "good morning."

Sakura and Kankuro left the room together and neither of them spoke until they reached the elevator.

"You're on the eighth floor?" he asked.

She nodded. "How long have they been looking for me?"

"A half hour, maybe. They had no idea where to look." He laughed. "And then you were in the last place I would ever think to find you."

"Gaara's room."

"He's never had anyone in his room before, not even housekeeping. I wasn't supposed to be in there, if you hadn't been there he would have probably chewed my head off."

"I was pretty surprised when he brought me there myself. One minute he's angry and yelling at me and the next thing I know he's taking me to his room."

Kankuro laughed. "You know, when I first saw you I thought you were just another prissy school girl. I don't know why, I guess it was just the way you carried yourself. But if you're with Gaara, then you really must be something else."

And just what was that supposed to mean? "Is he like this with all the girls who stay here?" she asked.

"Are you joking? My brother is socially retarded. I didn't even know he was interested in this kind of thing. You're a whole hell of a lot hotter than I would have ever thought he could manage to get. I still can't believe you were with him."

"Just to let you know, I ran into him by accident and it was _after_ I had taken my clothes off. Nothing happened." Because _someone_ walked in at the most inopportune time.

"Whatever you say." He gave her a knowing look.

"You should have more faith in your brother."

"Listen," he said, his tone serious, "my brother is a little… _volatile. _If something happens, if he does something or if he says something, come find me, my sister, or the hotel manager, Baki."

"Wow, you're not freaking me out at all." She said sarcastically.

They stopped walking and Sakura looked up to find that they were at the door to her room where inside her friends were all waiting anxiously for her to return.

"Don't get me wrong, my brother is a good kid. I just don't really see him handling this well."

"Well, I'm only here for a week so if things end badly I'll be gone and that will be that. Although I really don't think there is anything to worry about." She pointed to the door. "I should really get in there. Thanks for coming to find me."

"No problem, say hello to everyone for me. Oh, and good luck."

Sakura knocked on the door a smiled. Good morning indeed.

* * *

**So I got back from the 'heath spa' this afternoon. I did some writing while I was there (in a notebook) and so hopefully in addition to this update I'll be able to update PWK. **

**I shared a room with this crazy klepto girl who tried to seduce one of the counselors. It's nice to know there are people werider than I am out there. I kind of wanted to write a story about her. She was cool and helped me think of the truths and dares.  
**

**As always, everything in this chapter is made up or something I learned from wikipedia. I am _hardly_ an expert in astronomy so don't kill me if you are and you're upset I got something wrong. **

**THANKS for all the reviews this story is getting. This one is less pressure than PWK so I always have a lot of fun writing this one. **

**I love all of you in a completely healthy and normal way. (so leave more reviews) **

**CJ  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**This is dedicated to Unorchestrated because this one is her favorite~!**

* * *

_Wednesday _

"So spill," said Ino, after they had settled down in their respective beds. "You were gone for hours. Don't bother telling me that you got lost because we both know you're not that stupid."

Sakura shrugged meekly. "I was spending time with my new friend." She prayed that Ino would be satisfied with this response.

"And who might this new friend be?" asked Ino. "Is that whose shirt you're wearing?"

"His name is Gaara."

"Gaara who? Was he one of the boys you met at the party?"

Sakura cleared her throat. "No, actually. Gaara is the red haired boy that has been the victim of my clumsiness this week."

"Get out!" Ino threw a pillow at her. "You're lying. That guy hates you."

"Ino, he was going to kiss me." Sakura tried to suppress a smile. "He's actually really nice… and handsome…"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll admit that he is _vaguely_ attractive, but I'm not seeing the nice part. Nice boys don't spend time with half naked girls they've just met."

"You said it yourself that it's not about 'nice' or 'good' or 'bad'. He didn't try to take advantage of me. It was completely innocent." Sakura bit her lip. "I wouldn't have minded if it hadn't been so innocent. I really like him."

"Sasuke is going to flip." Ino shook her head. "He was bragging to Kiba that it was only a matter of time before you 'give into your desire for him'.

Sakura didn't even have to ponder it. She liked Gaara and not Sasuke. It was simple. The thought of Sasuke kissing her made her queasy while the thought of Gaara kissing her…

"Why are you blushing, Forehead?" Ino smirked. "You're thinking dirty thoughts aren't you? I swear, I don't know what has gotten into you. Do you have any idea how irresponsible you're being?"

Sakura's face fell. "You're right. I'm being ridiculous."

Ino threw another pillow at her. "Ridiculously brilliant maybe. You're supposed to be irresponsible! You're eighteen years old, not eighty. This is a _good_ thing." She crawled onto Sakura's bed and looked her straight in the eyes. "Have as many midnight rendezvous with this mysterious redheads as you want. This is your vacation. Live a little! Don't settle for almost kisses. Take some initiative and rock his world."

"I would have if Kankuro hadn't walked in and ruined the moment," said Sakura. That wasn't exactly true though. Sakura didn't think they were ready for world rocking just yet. But she wasn't going to object to some excellent kissing.

Part of her had to wonder if this was a good idea. There was always the slight chance that she would grow attached to him. At the end of the week she would be going home and never seeing him again. She had to hope that they would have fun together but not too much fun. It would be taking a risk.

_Well, what ever happens, happens. _She told herself. She would just have to wait until morning to find out what exactly that was.

* * *

"Sakura, did you order room service?" asked Ino.

"No," answered Sakura. She was busy towel drying her hair after her morning shower. "Why do you ask?"

"Because there is a cart filled with waffles, omelets and breakfast pastries outside our door."

Sakura's eyebrows drew together in concern. "That's weird," she said. "Maybe they got the wrong room."

"Ah, wait," said Ino. "There's a note."

Sakura dropped the towel and hurried to the door. "What's it say?"

Ino snorted. "It's from Sasuke." She handed Sakura the little white card. "Read for yourself."

_Sakura- _

_I was worried about you last night and I'm glad you're safe. _

_I was hoping that maybe we could spend the day together?_

_-Sasuke_

"You've got to be kidding me." Sakura sighed. "You know, three months ago I would have sold my soul for this kind of invitation. Now I just feel uncomfortable."

Really, what kind of trick was Sasuke trying to pull? Why all of the sudden was he so eager to spend time with her? Could it be that he _actually_ had feelings for her? After all those years of being "just friends" why so suddenly had he decided that he want a romantic relationship with her? It just didn't make any sense. Sakura was certainly no one special.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Ino. "Didn't you say last night that this Gaara person invited you to see some nature thing?"

"Yeah…" Sakura bit her lip. It seemed like an obvious choice but it wasn't. Even if she didn't have romantic feelings for Sasuke he was still one of her closest friends. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. She had only known Gaara for a few days, but Sasuke had been her friend for years. "Shoot. I don't know what to do…"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the telephone ringing. Sakura raced against Ino to answer it. Sakura shoved Ino away and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she asked, slightly breathless.

"Um, Sakura? It's Gaara," said the voice on the other end.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. "Gaara, hey… good morning."

"Gaara?" Ino mouthed. "Lover boy?" she pressed her ear against the other end of the phone. Sakura tried to push her away but Ino wouldn't budge.

"So what's up?" Sakura asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah… Um… The hotel manager's niece has come to stay."

"Okay…" replied Sakura. She had no idea where he was going with this.

"Um… the thing is… I have to show her around and stuff, so I won't be able to take you out."

Needless to say Sakura was disappointed. "It's okay," she said. "I understand. One of my friends wanted to spend the day with me, so this works out just fine."

"You're not angry?"

"Of course not," she assured him. "I just hope we can see each other another time."

"Yeah!" he coughed. "I mean, yes, I would like that. I thought maybe you and your friends would want to hang out in room twelve-twelve tonight."

"Twelve-twelve?" asked Sakura. "What's so special about room twelve-twelve?"

"It's haunted."

"Haunted? As in ghosts?"

Gaara sighed. "It's a long story."

"Well, I want to hear it. What time do you want to meet?"

"Eight? We can meet in front of the room. I'll have to bring Matsuri, Baki's niece."

He was bringing the girl he was ditching her for? Seriously? "I can't wait to meet her." Total lie. "And…to see you."

"I… to see you too."

Sakura giggled. "Well, good. I'll go tell my friends… that we're meeting tonight. All of us. Together. As a group."

"Um… okay then. Bye."

"Bye." And with that said Sakura hung up the phone.

"Ahhhhhhh, so cute!" Ino squealed. She tackled Sakura onto the bed. "He's so cute, Sakura! Did you hear how nervous he was on the phone?"

"He wasn't nervous." Sakura bit her bottom lip. "He's just not very articulate."

"Somebody's in _love_." Ino sing-songed.

"Shut up!" Sakura slapped her arm. "We're just friends."

Ino smirked. "You are _not_ just friends."

Sakura giggled. "I know."

"So what about Sasuke? You're actually going to spend the day with him?" asked Ino. "I mean, I'm all for having fun, but you should be careful with him. Sasuke is the jealous type and I don't think he would take kindly to being man-juggled."

Man juggled. Where on earth did Ino come up with these terms? Well, Sakura wasn't planning on man-juggling anyone. She and Sasuke were going to spend a platonic afternoon together. They were going to do a little sight seeing and keep everything rated G. There was no question about it, Sasuke and Sakura were just friends.

* * *

"I have a hangover so I was hoping we could just stay in my room and watch pay-per-view," said Sasuke. He was leaning in the doorway and he had an oh-so-innocent expression on his face.

He wanted to do _what_? "Um…" started Sakura.

"We can just lie in bed and watch whatever movie you want to watch." He tone was slightly hopeful and Sakura found herself caving.

Sasuke was one of her best friends. His intentions shouldn't matter. She should trust him not to do anything she wasn't comfortable with. He had never hurt her before, and he wasn't going to start now. "Okay." Sakura smiled. "I should warn you though, I'm in the mood for a chick flick."

Okay, so maybe lying in the dark, on a bed, with Sasuke's arm around her, watching two high school sweethearts making love for the first time was not what Sakura had in mind when she agreed to spend the day with Sasuke. Sakura sat as ridged as a statue, red faced, and trying to ignore Sasuke's hand caressing her bare upper arm. The scariest thing about their arrangement was that it kind of felt… nice.

Sakura hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and as the movie wore on she found her posture relaxing and her eyelids drooping. She figured there was no harm in resting her head on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke shifted to accommodate her and covered her with the blanket folded at the end of the bed.

"You smell nice." Sasuke whispered into her ear. His breath tickled and she sighed. Her mind was slowing down.

"It's my shampoo." She was only semi conscious of the fact that his arm was no longer around her shoulder but around her waist. His hand slowly lifted her shirt up until it could slide underneath the fabric and stroke the soft skin of her stomach. "Sasuke?" she asked, her head still fuzzy.

"Shhhh." Sasuke rolled over and pinned Sakura to the bed under him. "We both know how badly you want this."

Well, that was a sobering statement. Sakura needed someone to remind her how badly she _didn't_ want this. She forcefully pushed Sasuke off of her. "No, Sasuke."

Sasuke grabbed her wrist. "Why are you running from me? You know how you feel about me."

"Is this a joke?" Sakura shook him off of her. "You're three years too late. That train left a long time ago. I see you as a friend and nothing more."

"Then what's the problem? This is something we can do as friends too." Sasuke smirked. "I'll be your tutor. I'll give you a lesson in pleasure."

Sakura heaved a disgusted sigh and tore the blanket off of herself. "You repulse me, Sasuke. I told you that I want to keep our relationship nonsexual. I'm not going to change my mind. I explained to you why this can't happen and it pisses me off that you're ignoring me. You're not being a good friend." She got off of he bed and adjusted her clothing. "I don't know what would make you think I would want to take it to the next level with you when you're already screwing up our friendship."

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "I don't know who you're saving yourself for. Naruto? Kiba? Shikamaru? Shino? Choji? None of them want you. I'm all you've got."

"No," she shook her head, "that's where you're wrong. There are plenty of guys in the world and I know there is at least one of them out there that likes me, and as it stands I like him a_ lot_ more than I like you.

She couldn't believe that Sasuke was doing this to her. He was supposed to be her friend. Friends don't say these things to each other. This was exactly why she didn't want to date him in the first place. They were destroying something in five minutes what they spent a decade building. He was acting like everything they had said and done together was meaningless. Did he really think that little of her and their friendship? It wasn't possible that he loved her so much that he thought it was worth risking, No, he just had the momentary hotts for her and didn't care what he had to say or do to get her into bed with him.

"Whatever you say, Sakura," said Sasuke. "Just don't come crawling back to me when you're all alone."

Sakura turned her back to him and put her sandals back on. "You're sick. You have a sickness."

She walked right out of the door and didn't look back.

* * *

Sakura was nervous. She contemplated wearing the flirtiest outfit that she had brought but she didn't want to make it look like she was trying too hard. Besides, there wasn't anything much flirtier then pink underwear and he seemed immune to that. In the end she just went with denim shorts and a mint green tee shirt. She didn't know what the night would have in store for her so she figured comfortable clothing would be best.

The rest of her friends were already camped outside room twelve-twelve when Sakura and Ino reached the twelfth floor. "Where's Sasuke?" asked Ino.

Naruto shrugged. "That bastard said something about not feeling well. I think he'll realize how bored he is without us and come up later."

Sakura knew fully well that she was the reason behind Sasuke's absence. Whatever. If he wanted to be lame and ditch the entire group over some drama then that was his choice. This was Sakura's vacation and she was going to have as much fun as she pleased.

"Here they are!" exclaimed Naruto.

Sakura turned and spotted Kankuro and a girl with spiky blond hair pushing metal carts down the hallway and coming towards them. When they got closer she could see that the carts were filled with deserts and junk food. Everything from Key Lime Pie to French Fries. She could picture the boys behind her salivating at the sight of such treats. The only thing that was missing was a certain redhead but she was too shy to ask where he was.

"Don't look so disappointed," said Kankuro, reading her mind. He poked her in forehead. "Romeo took Matsuri back to her room so she could change. They've been out on the pool deck all day."

How old was this Matsuri that she needed Gaara to baby-sit her all day at the pool? Sakura smiled good-naturedly. "I hope he's not sun burnt. Redheads burn so easily."

The blond girl laughed. "So you're this Sakura I've been hearing so much about. I'm Kankuro's and Gaara's sister, Temari."

Oh god. They'd been talking about her? What had they been saying? Gaara's brother had probably told their sister that he had found her half naked in his room. They probably all thought she was a giant ho. Sakura was mortified. "Nice to meet you," she said.

Kankuro let them all into the room and Sakura was surprised to see that it looked just like any other hotel room she had ever stayed in. No blood stains, no crime scene tape, no rotting corpses. Sakura didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about it. "I thought that this room was supposed to be haunted."

Kankuro and Temari shared a clandestine smile. "Just you wait. It's haunted alright," said Kankuro. "I hope no one here is afraid of ghosts."

The men in Sakura's group all scoffed. "Konoha men aren't afraid of anything," boasted Kiba. "Especially not of ghosts."

They started to rearrange the furniture in the room so there would be more space to sit when Shikamaru came up with the idea of building a tent. The pulled the blankets off the bed and attached them to the ceiling fan, walls, and dressers so that the ten of them fit cozily into the enclosed area. Just as they were getting ready to sit down the door opened and a tall redhead walked in with a short brown haired girl hanging on his arm.

She was girl-next-door pretty. Her hair was a nice normal shade of brown. Her skin was clear her eyelashes were long her nose was straight, and she had one of those adorable smiles. Sakura swallowed. This girl was holding onto Gaara and she didn't look like she was going to let go anytime soon. The only question was… did he want her to let go? Sakura mustered up as much enthusiasm as she had stored in herself. "We made a tent!" she announced.

Gaara squinted. "Why?"

"Oh…" Sakura forced a smile to cover up for the fact that if she opened her mouth to speak she was only going to further embarrass herself.

"Alright," Temari clapped her hands, "this is Gaara, my brother, and Matsuri, our hotel manager's niece."

Sakura held out her hand to Matsuri. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura."

Matsuri took Sakura's hand and gave it a small shake. "Nice to meet you too." She nudged Gaara's forearm with her head. "This is Gaara… my boyfriend."

Boyfriend?

Sakura felt as if she had tumbled into that pool again. Gaara was already somebody's boyfriend. Why didn't anyone tell her? Why did they allow her to make an idiot out of herself? Why didn't _he_ tell her? He had been leading her on the entire time. He had been playing her! "Nice to meet you, Gaara," Sakura said as levelly as she could.

Gaara forcibly removed his arm from Matsuri's grip and gave her an annoyed glare. "I'm not your boyfriend," he told her. He turned to Sakura. "And what do you mean 'nice to meet you'? I invited you here. We already know each other."

Relief washed over her. Gaara _didn't_ have a girlfriend after all. He wasn't a bastard. She smiled at him warmly. "I'm just happy you're here."

He blushed lightly. "Oh." He cleared his throat. "I'm happy I'm here too." He held her gaze for a few moments until Matsuri tugged on his arm to get his attention.

"Gaara…" she whined, "you have to sit next to me and protect me from ghosts."

"Kankuro will do it," said Gaara, shaking her off once more.

Sakura sat between Ino and Gaara and Matsuri sat to Gaara's right. Sakura was left with the strangest urge to kiss Gaara in front of everyone, _especially_ in front of Matsuri.

She didn't of course. There was no way Sakura would engage in public display of affection. She didn't even know if Gaara wanted affection from her. For now she would just settle for leaning in his direction and catching his eye every once in a while to give him a shy smile.

Kankuro turned off all of the lamps in the room and the rest of the group turned on their flashlights. "Let's start off with some scary stories," he said.

"I've got one," said a soft voice. Everyone turned to stare at Hinata. It wasn't like her to volunteer especially not for something that would mean all eyes and attention on her. Naruto kissed her cheek.

"Go for it, Baby," he handed her a flashlight.

"Okay." She held the flashlight up to her face and her light eyes glowed eerily. "This happened to my cousin's friend's aunt twenty years ago."

"Sure," Kiba snickered.

Naruto socked him in the arm. "Shut up, man. My girlfriend is trying to tell a story."

"Anyways," continued Hinata, "There were two roommates living in a dorm building together. Let's call them… Ino and Sakura." Her eyes flashed and the two girls gulped.

Sakura wasn't sure how she felt about being the subject of a scary story but she didn't want to look like a coward in front of Gaara and the rest of her friends. She especially didn't want to look like a coward in front of Matsuri.

"Ino and Sakura had a History midterm coming up," said Hinata. "But Ino had just started dating a dreamy art major so she had been neglecting her studies and going out on dates instead. The night before the big exam Ino was invited to a party. The party was being held on the roof of another dorm building and was supposed to be the party of the century. Naturally, Ino tried to convince her best friend to take a break from her studying and come out and play with everyone. Sakura was tempted but ultimately she knew that her schoolwork came first and she needed to spend her night wisely."

"You know," giggled Ino. "I think this might have actually happened before."

Hinata ignored the interruption. "Ino and her new boyfriend had a blast at the party. She met new people and drank fancy cocktails and danced with the rest of her friends. She felt bad when she thought of Sakura up along in their room studying but she knew that Sakura had chosen to spend her night that way." Hinata paused for a moment. The room was silent and all ears were waiting for her to continue. "Ino left the party around three A.M and her boyfriend walked her back to her dorm. He gave her a kiss goodbye and then left to go to his own building. Ino opened the door and heard her roommate stir. She knew how hard Sakura had been working so she didn't turn the light on in fear of waking her. The room was pitch black so Ino crawled right into bed and promptly fell asleep. When Ino woke up in the morning she saw that Sakura was still fast asleep lying on her stomach. Ino sighed and leaned down to try and wake her friend. At first Ino was amused that her friend was resisting but soon her amusement turned to concern. Ino rolled Sakura over and screamed. Sakura had duck tape over her mouth and was covered in blood. She turned around to look at where her friend had been studying and saw that her books were soaked in blood and above them written on the wall was, 'Aren't you glad you didn't turn the light on?'" Hinata closed her eyes and her face held a somber expression. "While Ino was falling asleep Sakura was being raped and murdered."

The real Sakura shuddered. She had just been brutalized in Hinata's story. What did she ever do to Hinata? Sakura didn't know if she should take it personally or not. "Well, thanks for that," she said. "Now I'm going to do all of my studying in the library."

Temari sighed. "The moral of the story is to never spend the night studying when there is partying to be done."

"I thought it was a great story." Matsuri send Sakura a smug look and Sakura saw that her hand was clasped with Gaara's.

Sakura clenched her own fists. "I've got a story," she said. "It's about a boyfriend and girlfriend named Hinata and Naruto." She held her hand out. "Flashlight please."

"Here." Shino handed her his light.

"Thanks." Sakura took a deep breath. "Hinata and Naruto were stopped in the woods off the side of the road. Hinata's father was strict and didn't want Naruto dating his daughter so when they wanted to be together they had to do it in secret. Naruto stopped their make-out session short so he could take a pee break. He locked the doors so his girlfriend would be safe from animals. Time passed and she grew restless so she passed her time playing solitaire on her blackberry. She finally looked up when the phone was out of battery and screamed. In front of her window there was a hairy man with a crazed grin on his face. He lifted his hand up and showed that he was holding Naruto's decapitated head by his blond hair. Hinata screamed again. The man lifted his other hand and showed that he was holding…" Sakura trailed off.

"What was he holding?!" demanded Naruto.

"They keys to the car," answered Sakura evilly.

"Hell no!" Naruto shouted. "Hell no!" I would never let some maniac chop my head off."

"Cool it, man," said Shikamaru. "Don't be so troublesome. It's just a story."

"No," whispered Sakura. "It's a premonition." She turned the flashlight off and held it out to her friends. "Whose next?"

"I know one." Temari took the flashlight from Sakura. "This happened to a girl in our neighborhood growing up."

"Oh!" said Kankuro. "You're going to tell them about _that_ girl?"

Temari nodded solemnly. "There was this woman on our street who had fifteen children. The rest of the family often ignored the youngest daughter. She wore her hair in tiny little braids pulled back into a ponytail. She hadn't taken the braids out or washed them in months. For a week she complained to her family that her head was hurting her, but everyone was too busy with their own lives to listen to her. Finally, she complained to her teacher at school that her head was bothering her. The teacher figured that her braids were too tight must be what was causing her pain so she cut off the band around the ponytail so she could untie the girl's hair. When the ponytail fell a giant spider crawled out. The spider had laid eggs in the little girls hair and a thousand tiny spiders were eating her scalp. They called for an ambulance and they sent the little girl to the emergency room immediately but it was too late. The little girl died."

Sakura unconsciously touched her hair. She shampooed her hair everyday. There was no way a spider could have infested her silky pink locks. She wanted to vomit at the thought of it. She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw that Matsuri had begun to run her hands through Gaara's hair. He looked completely unperturbed. Sakura on the other hand was beginning to feel angry.

"That was the single most terrifying story I've ever heard," said Ino in a hushed tone. "Scariest story _ever_. I think that-" Ino's eyes widened. "Did anyone just hear that?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. The room was silent. No one spoke for a minute. Sakura hugged her knees to her chest. She wished that she were the one being comforted by Gaara. She refused to look in his direction. Gaara wasn't supposed to be a ladies' man. There wasn't supposed to be any competition. He wasn't supposed to be letting this other girl do whatever she wanted to him. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

The lamps in the room flickered on and then off. Sakura heard somebody scream. And then… a toilet flushed. "What the?" she scanned the circle and saw that every one of her friends were present. They all sat tensely listening to the sounds of the plumbing.

"Did a ghost just flush the toilet?" asked Naruto finally. "The lights flashed and a ghost flushed the toilet? Is that what just happened?"

"The week this place first opened we let some of the locals stay in the rooms for a low price just so we could work out the kinks and make sure everything ran smoothly," explained Temari. "One of the guests we had was an old man who was dressed like a miner from the nineteenth century .We figured he worked at one of the tourist venues nearby so we didn't give much thought into his odd dress or style of speech. We put him up in room twelve-twelve. This room."

"The thing is," said Kankuro. "The man never checked out."

"But no one has seen him since," added Temari. "Once a month someone will leave a gold coin at the front desk in the box for room twelve-twelve."

Kankuro put his arm around a shivering Ino sitting next to him. "We tried putting guests in this room but they all complain about problems with the lights and appliances turning on and off by themselves. Apparently the shower, sink and toilette act mysteriously too."

"So that means," said Choji, "we're in the presence of a… ghost."

"I'm scared!" cried Matsuri. Sakura turned and saw that the girl was curled up on Gaara's lap with her arms around his neck.

Oh really?

"I've had enough." Sakura stood up and brushed imaginary dirt off of her lap. "Goodnight guys." She felt someone grab her wrist.

"You're leaving?" asked Gaara. Sakura couldn't believe he had the nerve to look confused.

The last time they were together he tried to kiss her. Now he was canoodling with another girl and expected her to just sit and watch. She gave him a look of incredulity. "Yeah," she said, "I'm leaving."

"You're afraid?"

"No…" she said testily. "I just don't want to be here anymore."

Gaara pushed Matsuri off of him and also rose to his feet. "I'll come with you."

_Now_ he was interested in her? "No," she said, "sit back down. I don't want you to come with me."

His brow furrowed. "Why not?"

Sakura's face began to turn red. She couldn't believe that they were having this conversation in front of the entire circle. They were all staring at her. That stupid Matsuri was smirking. Sakura yanked her wrist back from him. "Do whatever you want. I don't care." She crawled outside the folds of the tent and stalked out of the room.

What a letdown he turned out to be. And to think she had wanted him to kiss her. Who was she kidding? Of course she was going to lose to a pretty brunette who knew how to act girly and afraid. If he was going to choose that girl over her then she didn't want anything to do with him. Why the hell did he invite her and her friends to the room if he just wanted to get touchy feely with Matsuri all night? Why did he need an audience to do it?"

"Sakura, wait!" Gaara called after her, following her out the door and into the hallway. "Wait a second…"

Sakura spun around. "You said you weren't playing games with me, but you're a liar," she accused.

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not a liar. I'm not playing games with you."

Sakura couldn't handle this. "I don't care anymore. You can do whatever you want. Just don't act like you like me if all you really want is Matsuri."

"Matsuri? What does she have to do with any of this? I told you she's not my girlfriend."

"She's all over you!" He couldn't possibly be as dimwitted as to think that didn't matter.

"She did that herself. It's not like I wanted her to. It doesn't mean anything to me so it shouldn't matter."

Sakura rolled her eyes. He _was_ a moron. "It means something to her." She heaved a frustrated sigh. "Let me ask you this. How would you feel if it had been _me_ on your lap and touching you?"

"It would be… you know…" He stared at the ground. "Um… _nice_."

"Nice?" Clueless as always. She bit her lip. She really shouldn't be finding any of this cute. She should continue being angry with him. "How is she supposed to know the difference? Besides, how am _I _supposed to act this way with you if she's already doing it? There isn't room for both of us on your lap and I don't like sharing."

"I don't want you to share," he said quickly. "I told you, I don't like her. She's just Baki's niece."

Sakura shook her head. "Well, you're too late. You lost me."

"That's not fair!" Gaara looked like he wanted to punch something. "How was I supposed to know that this kind of thing would upset you?"

That's right. This boy didn't know the first thing about girls. Should she give him the benefit of the doubt? How was he supposed to know that it would upset her if he knew nothing about her? "Okay," she said grudgingly, "I'll give you another chance."

His face and posture relaxed. "Oh, okay. What now?"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know; it's your hotel."

"Well…" he looked thoughtful. "We can go for a walk outside?"

Sakura shrugged. "Sounds alright to me."

* * *

She had forgotten how low the temperature fell at night. Even in the sweatshirt Gaara had stolen for her from the gift shop she was still shivering. "Was that story true?" Sakura asked him.

"The one about the miner?" he replied.

Sakura nodded. "Is the room really haunted?"

"I don't think so. I think it has something to do with the room being on the end of the electrical circuit and plumbing lines. I don't remember a man dressed as a miner ever coming to the hotel and I have never seen the gold my sister was talking about." He reached out to her. "Wanna hold hands?"

Sakura could barely suppress her smile. "Yes." She laced his fingers with hers and gave his hand a squeeze. "I've never really been afraid of the supernatural. I'm pretty fearless compared to a lot of the girls I know."

"Well, what then are you afraid of?" asked Gaara.

What was she afraid of? "Babies."

"Babies?"

"I was left in charge of my three month old cousin once. It was the single most terrifying night of my life. He wouldn't stop crying and I didn't know how to make him drink his bottle. I was scared to death that I was going to drop him. _I_ was crying by the time my family came home."

"They _are_ pretty creepy…"

Sakura laughed. "What are you afraid of?"

"Caterpillars."

"Caterpillars?" Sakura laughed again.

"Yes," Gaara nodded. "I think they're evil. Especially the hairy ones."

"What about butterflies? Are you afraid of those too?"

"They're evil but I'm not afraid of them."

Sakura saw a bench in the distance. She led him over to it so they could both sit down. "What was military school like?" she asked him.

Gaara shrugged. "It was like military school."

"Why were you there?" Sakura had always been under the impression that military school was for 'problem child's. It wasn't hard for her to think of Gaara as a deviant. He had that bad boy vibe.

"My father and I didn't exactly see eye-to-eye," admitted Gaara. "It was better for the both of us this way."

"But he's going to give you this big hotel to run?"

"Again, it's better for the both of us this way."

He was lucky that he knew already what he was going to do with the next ten years of his life. Sakura still had no idea what she wanted to study when college started. She had always been so sure that she wanted to be a doctor. It was hard to imagine following any other career path. But she couldn't help but wonder if medicine was the right choice. She leaned back and looked up at the sky. "You don't want to go to college and study astronomy?"

"I've got books on it. I don't really need a classroom and a professor."

Sakura smiled to herself. "You're amazing. You amaze me."

He covered his face with his hands and groaned. "You're insane. You amaze me too."

"Thanks," she giggled. She pried his hands off of his face. "So now that you have me all alone out here what were you planning on doing?"

Gaara's face grew serious and he leaned in. "Are plans and desires the same thing?"

Sakura felt a soft fluttering in her chest. "They can be." She leaned in so their noses were almost touching. Even in the dark lighting she could see how quiet and alive his cyan blue eyes were.

"Oh." he whispered. He leaned in further and his lips gently brushed hers. It could barely even be considered a kiss but it was _electric_.

"Your lips are warm," murmured Sakura. She smiled stupidly. "Kiss me again."

"Okay." He smiled slightly and tucked the strand of hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. Then he kissed her again. Innocent kisses. It was just his lips on top of hers tugging softly and pulling her into his arms. Sakura had never felt more at ease with another person's body against hers. She kissed back effortlessly, enjoying the tingling sensation that was spreading from her lips to her toes.

"They're probably freaking out again," Sakura said when Gaara finally released her. "We didn't tell them where we were going."

Gaara put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "I don't give a shit," he deadpanned. "There is no reason for us to go inside."

Sakura shivered, the full effects of the cold finally hitting her. "Maybe we can just relocate? It's forty degrees outside…"

He seemed to consider this. "Yeah, okay. We can go back up to my room."

"Um." Sakura buried her face in his chest. "I was thinking we could just stay in the lobby." Her voice was muffled but she knew her message would be clear. She wasn't ready to get into bed with him. She had a feeling he would understand.

"Whatever you want," he stroked and smoothed the hair on the back of her head.

A sick part of Sakura was feeling a sense of victory. _Take that Matsuri!_ she thought. Gaara was all hers.

Until the week ended at least. After that Sakura didn't know whom he belonged with.

* * *

**SORRY that it has been so long since I updated this story. I know that there are quite a few fans. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you!**

**THANKS for all of the reviews that the last chapter got. Oh god how I love you all. LOVE LOVE LOVE you. **

**So leave another review and tell me how you never lost faith in me. **

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**PS I hope my _s__cary ghost stories don't cause you all nightmares._**


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